With IPB4 you've removed the function to add a comment on the status feed, however what doesn't make sense to me is that 

1.) It's been removed

2.) Since that function has been removed.. What exactly is the point of seeing everyone's recent status updates as wouldn't it be better to only see status updates of people with whom you follow, since the friends list has been also changed to more twitter ish follower feed?

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Also yes I understand the point of widgets & add ons that could help implement these things, but as current stock functions they don't integrate that well with each other as a seamless experience

Yup they ruined a system that worked pretty well.

i think so too, you can enable it but it is by the user itself + it doesn't show up like in 3.4

Also please give us the option to enable bb code / emoticons showing up on the block. It was in the alpha but removed

Please, we need this awesome old "Comments(n)"  and you can comment directly in the status feeds.

How can we add it back?

Also, why can't emotions be displayed in the Status feeds? 
How can we add it back?

I concur please add comments back. And also give us the "read more" option.