Xeviat
Hero
Even I, an avid fan of Nerath, agree 100% with you. There was no need to throw everything out, especially when that "everything" has a lot of fans.
That's why I'm in favor of "setting-neutral" core books. They may have fluff descriptions of classes and such, but everything should be treated as tools in a toolbox, with the settings representing many ways you can use those tools (and leave others, if it's your choice).
To stubbornly insist on nominating one setting as "default" only further fractures the already shattered fan-base.
I'm down with that feeling too. Race descriptions would be the hardest thing to do without a setting, though. Even the PHB assumes things about the world in the race section.
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