I believe it is only thrilling for an incredibly small percentage of golfers, imho, not nearly enough to justify how many will be screwed by it. If I'm confronted with a 140 yard carry with my driver - or 3 wood, 3 iron, whatever - I am going to have one of two results: 1) of course I made that carry, it's a joke with this club or 2) I can't believe I mishit my driving club that badly. The answer to "Can I make this carry" is either of course or son of a bQ@#$!
Now, with an iron, on a par 3, then it becomes more of a real decision. Do I take an extra club and risk going long? Do I try to ignore the carry and just play my normal 140 yard club? Etc, etc.
I think what I really don't like about the 100-150 yard carry off the tee on a par 4/5 is that you are potentially penalizing someone doubly who already has been screwed by virtue of a complete mishit. It's like a double penalty - or triple, when you add in the penalty strokes.
With the par 3, you look at your result and are either satisfied (maybe even thrilled) or you think, I guess I chose poorly. When you duff a tee shot, you didn't choose poorly, you just didn't execute a simple shot (and I'd argue the reason for that is simply lack of play/practice). I think it's okay to ask a difficult question, I don't think it's okay to ask someone a simple question if the result is almost disastrous!
When you duff a tee shot on a driving hole, you already penalized yourself, the architect doesn't need to add to that.
Hope that makes sense, at least somewhat. It's obviously colored by my own erratic game, but call me crazy, I think there are a lot of casual golfers like me.
Addendum: I do think a 250 yard carry with a driver is thrilling, it's just aimed at an incredibly small demographic. Those guys need to find their thrills elsewhere!