Major Description
If TableOutputFormat in the new API fails to create a table, it simply logs this at ERROR level and then continues on its way. Then, the first write() to the table will throw a NPE since table hasn't been set.
Instead, it should probably rethrow the exception as a RuntimeException in setConf, or do what the old-API TOF does and not create the HTable instance until getRecordWriter, where it can throw an IOE.