I have to say that in my VERY modest opinion, Denon made a great design decision going with the new platter for the final VL12 Prime. Better than sticking with the “good” ole dot structure that was on the earlier models and that has been the mainstay of Technics SL1200s and it’s various Super-OEM siblings from all major brands.
Those dots had a real purpose for the purists and where never intended to be touched the way DJs touch them, so -obviously- ergonomics were never a design criteria. And all the copy-cats after Technics just copied that too, without asking themselves the (imho) right questions. One exception I believe, Numark. They had notches that look conspicuously similar (though further apart) to those on the VL12. No doubt a pure coincidence (Wink, Wink, Nudge, Nudge).
How about you guys, has anyone ever actually enjoyed the touch of those old dot platters? I always found them sharp and abrasive. Not comfortable to the touch. The notches in the VL12 seem much easier on the fingers (especially when you “brake” them lightly, which was a good way to control speed).
Will know for sure on Sunday after I had some hands on with them at the DanceFair.
Oh well, just the ramblings of an old DJ with time on his hand on a Friday night (why am I not out gigging again?) 
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Yeah those platter edge dots were nasty on the Tech 1200/1210. How many times I back-cued too vigorously, to the point where the stylus would track off the edge of the vinyl, the tone arm dropped, and the stylus got flicked out of the cartridge by the platter dots…
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I learned on a mate’s Numark X2’s and my first (and current) set of table’s are Numark TTX’s. I love the platter indents, and always find it awkward when I mix in a club with Tech’s / Super OEM’s. The new Denon platter does indeed remind me of the old numark platter, just much prettier.
As an aside, Vestax pdx series also used non conventional platters. While the vestax platter sat much higher, it is even more similar to the VL12 than the X2 / CDX / TTX platter.
There’s an easy way to prevent that.
You can adjust the minimum height of the tonearm lift with a small screwdriver.
It stops the tonearm from dropping below a certain height and touching the dots.
Had to buy a reasonable amount of new styli before I learnt that trick.
The Platter design of the VL12 looks really cool, though.
I’ll buy them as soon as my M5Gs break 
Don’t forget about Vestax and there well built turntables. Along with my technics 1200mk2s, I have a pair of vestax PDX2300mk2pros, with needle skip resistance features in the tone arm and built in pitch bend, that allow you to pitch bend up and down without touching the platter and ultra pitch settings with electronic display. You can turn the decks on there side and the needle will stay in the grooves. I have yet to see any other turntable manufacture include feature like this.
