For me, it's not even the likely brokenness of the sub-class/race option that rankles (though I agree with KahlessNestor that the sub-class/race option almost certainly will be broken, simply because there's no obvious playtesting being done here).
There's nothing to prevent Mike Mearls from offering to design custom D&D elements for players. The problem comes from his unilateral declaration that these elements will be legal for Adventurers League. The only reason for him to actually do this, though, is to raise the bar for what he could expect in donations -- to say 'hey, I'll design you a sub-class and maybe you can convince a DM to let you play it, what do you say' would not have garnered $2500 a pop in donations, or likely anything close to it.
The admins have stated that Mearls will give them a chance to review the designed elements before their release to their donors, but let's be real -- the admins have no authority to say 'make this change or we won't approve the cert for AL', nor are they likely to force the issue, because it's already been demonstrated that Mearls can do what he wants when it comes to AL.
And that's my real problem. We've been told that we have a shared world, where everyone agrees to abide by certain rules and limitations in order to effect a similar play experience for people around the globe, and that it's important for DMs to abide by these rules in order to help that experience be both more consistent and more fun. Except Mike Mearls doesn't have to do this; he can throw whatever he wants into the campaign, for whatever reason he wants to, without having to follow procedures or policies or get buy-in from the folks who've volunteered to organize this campaign.
The Adventurers League asks a lot from its volunteers -- it asks them to spend their time and sometimes even their money in service to a larger community and to the ideals that community represents. When the people in charge of that community make it plain that they're more interested in their own interests (getting playtest material into wider circulation, raising a bunch of cash on a personal donation page for charity) than in supporting and strengthening the community, well, it just makes me wonder why I'm spending the time and effort I am supporting a community whose leaders don't 'get it'.
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Pauper
There's nothing to prevent Mike Mearls from offering to design custom D&D elements for players. The problem comes from his unilateral declaration that these elements will be legal for Adventurers League. The only reason for him to actually do this, though, is to raise the bar for what he could expect in donations -- to say 'hey, I'll design you a sub-class and maybe you can convince a DM to let you play it, what do you say' would not have garnered $2500 a pop in donations, or likely anything close to it.
The admins have stated that Mearls will give them a chance to review the designed elements before their release to their donors, but let's be real -- the admins have no authority to say 'make this change or we won't approve the cert for AL', nor are they likely to force the issue, because it's already been demonstrated that Mearls can do what he wants when it comes to AL.
And that's my real problem. We've been told that we have a shared world, where everyone agrees to abide by certain rules and limitations in order to effect a similar play experience for people around the globe, and that it's important for DMs to abide by these rules in order to help that experience be both more consistent and more fun. Except Mike Mearls doesn't have to do this; he can throw whatever he wants into the campaign, for whatever reason he wants to, without having to follow procedures or policies or get buy-in from the folks who've volunteered to organize this campaign.
The Adventurers League asks a lot from its volunteers -- it asks them to spend their time and sometimes even their money in service to a larger community and to the ideals that community represents. When the people in charge of that community make it plain that they're more interested in their own interests (getting playtest material into wider circulation, raising a bunch of cash on a personal donation page for charity) than in supporting and strengthening the community, well, it just makes me wonder why I'm spending the time and effort I am supporting a community whose leaders don't 'get it'.
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Pauper
