Just to be clear, we always played homebrew too. Heck we didn't even know settings (or adventure modules) were a thing when we started - the only option was homebrew! Therefore, we leaned heavily on the lore in the core books in our homebrew game. So changes to lore in the MM in particular seemed like a betrayal.
I didn't like 4e's approach to classic lore either, and complained about it at the time. 5e seemed to walk that back initially, even if imperfectly, so I tried to give them the benefit of the doubt. Keep in mind that it was in 5e, not 4e, where they officially announced their policy on lore consistency. Also, not a lot of setting work happened in 4e that I cared about personally because I just was never all that invested in the Realms, Eberron, or even Dark Sun (all that much). My favorite settings were always Ravenloft, Planescape, Dragonlance, and Spelljammer, none of which had much of a 4e impact (if any). 4e was simply easier to ignore for my interests.
I don't see that much difference between the changes from the Black Box to the Red Box and the changes to VGR except the latter got explained in an overly complicated metaplot story (the Grand Conjunction) and the latter didn't bother to explain. You still ended up with a different Ravenloft than you previously had, with the added benefit of knowing some dude killed Duke Gundar off camera.
You're right of course. Early 2e changed dragons and giants to compensate for the omission of devils and demons, and the re-introduction of fiends in MC8 took liberties with their backstory. I'm thus going to blame satanic panic (and TSR's reaction to it) for all early 2e continuity issues
I mean, people want to say how 2e respected 1e lore obviously ignores all the changes from 1e Manual of the Planes to 2e Planescape changes. The devil's daemons and demons to baatezu, yugiloths and tanar'ri, every plane getting renamed, the Lords of Hell getting new names (and new members), demon lords like Orcus being killed. A lot of that in reaction to the Satanic Panic.You're right of course. Early 2e changed dragons and giants to compensate for the omission of devils and demons, and the re-introduction of fiends in MC8 took liberties with their backstory. I'm thus going to blame satanic panic (and TSR's reaction to it) for all early 2e continuity issues
Sure, but the Blood War was an additive change . . . which is Echohawk's point, that (most of) the lore changes between 1E and 3E were additive rather than retcons. There are certainly exceptions, as @Remathilis pointed out.
You know, it seems like they could have had the best of both worlds by removing the keen senses trait but having the skill be Perception +2 (sight), +4 (keen smell and hearing).
I understand that perspective. However, I would argue that this additive change (the Bloord War) did indeed retcon the lore presented for devils and demons in the 1e MM and MM2. A huge cosmic war that is not part of the core lore?! Sure it is technically additive, but if you take the 1e MM & MM2 to heart (like my young self did) it feels like every demon lord, prince, and archdevil is a fool for having nothing to do with the major event that motivates their brethren!
Yeah, but that's the problem with most media where new stories get added; they always change something retroactively. I mean, Marvel or Star Wars or Doctor Who is always recontextualizing something in light of a new revelation, a new as of yet unheard of faction, an undiscovered location, etc. That's not even including the changes of side stories (did you hear about the time Luke has a yellow lightsaber?) or prequels (hey, Boba Fett knows who Obi-Wan was) do.
