While I agree that no one should take any "victory laps" here, I do think it's important to understand why we find ourselves in this predicament. If the evidence we have from The Rouse, several sales reports posted on ENWorld, and WotC's own behavior are to be believed, 5e is coming years ahead of schedule solely because 4e wasn't appealing enough to the average gamer to stop the encroachment of alternatives like Pathfinder. If true, then people who are crowing about Monte's departure because they think it will steer 5e closer to 4e are missing the mark. He wasn't a guy who was hired at random and then somehow convinced WotC to sabotage 4e and bring back his beloved 3e. Rather, he was hired precisely because the underlying sales data was so poor that WotC felt its only option was to create a 3e-infused new edition -- a market reality that won't change simply because he has left.