the next adventure series probably is about the blood war ... Princes of the Apocalypse that comes out around march in 2015
This would be torture worthy of a Lord of Hell!Yeah, something like the Time of Troubles!
But just because it has been done bad in the past doesn't mean we should stop trying. I prefer to see people make the attempt.
What I really dislike about these changes is that they do not add anything - it's just change for the sake of change.
There's no point, that I can see.
Hells Leadership changed at least slightly in every edition except 4e.
Those poor leaders of the lower planes. They much dread the coming of a new edition since it always seems that something happens to them in between editions. It would be a lot cooler if these changes happened in an adventure or in a way that PCs could interact with the change and have it be more meaningful.
It's a fine line to walk.
In theory, I agree with you 100%. But in practice...
We've all made, or at least seen, complaints about some of the old modules, where the PCs were just observers, along for the ride. Where they didn't actually participate in the final conflict, except perhaps on the periphery, and where their actions didn't actually impact the final results.
Yet, when the company is making story changes, they have to have full control over the results.
I'm not saying it can't be done. There are ways to make the PCs feel like they've truly accomplished something while still making the change that needs making, or you can do a module and then say "The published materials moving forward assume that ending X happened, rather than Y or Z."
But none of the solutions is perfect, and it's a tricky thing to pull off even somewhat well.