Mercule: Do you hate the 4th Edition Realms specifically, or the previous versions. If it's the previous versions, you might like some of the new trappings and the new approach to it. Of course, you might not. But we have tried to make it more accessible and to add new things both to get people who disliked the Realms interested in it and to give old-timers something to make the Realms seem fresh again.
First, thank you very much for offering input to this discussion. I think it's very cool that some WotC folks do that. And I always appreciate it.
Full disclosure of bias, please don't stop with this paragraph: The Realms have never resonated with me since it was released. The short form is that the Realms have come to represent, to me, much of what caused me to bail on D&D in the early 1990s. Rightly or wrongly, I doubt I'll ever be able to look at it completely objectively. Ironically, the more of an uproar the 4e changes cause among old fans, the more likely I'll be to check it out. I will, though, check out the 4e version with as much objectivity as I can -- seriously.
What I'm concerned about, though, is that this is an indicator of Player's Guides to come. The Eberron PG will have the artificer. The Ravenloft PG will have the necromancer. The Dark Sun PG will have the psion. It may not be those specific classes, but I'm sure you understand what I'm saying. There are roughly 10 pages in the book that lots of people will want, even if they have no interest in the remainder.
I've bought my fair share of campaign settings over the last 25+ years. But, I generally bought them either because I was curious or because they sounded cool in their own right. The idea of buying a setting because I want a single, specific piece of crunch just doesn't sit right.
On a related note, I do like the three-then-done model for settings. It makes me much more likely to buy a variety of settings.