Glad you all are in private conversations with the designers to hear their real opinions on this. I mean, I only get to listen to their interviews where they seem proud of the work they did and the direction they chose, intrigued by the challenges it presented, and happy with the result.
Maybe you all can release those private conversations you've had with them where they lament the fact that they were forced to make this horrible mistake that utterly ruined the game that they REALLY wanted to make. Let people know the "real truth" of the situation. Otherwise, it seems a lot like you are just letting your own personal opinions about the design decision to color your perceptions and cause you to insist that they truly hated this direction in private, despite there being no evidence of that in public materials.