I suspect that it’s about WotC throwing away all “outdated” modes of play and primarily focusing on character development, instead of offering a true toolbox for a DM to use and play with, ala 2e or 3e. Variant rules! One could argue that 3e was all about character development, but it also provided a wealth of tools and ways to customize your game. 5e out of the box…not so much.
You could make a car as complicated and customizable as a tank. That will not help you sell more cars. That will not appeal to people looking to buy cars.
Dungeons and Dragons is a weird game, in this respect. The point of DnD rules is largely to codify specific actions. In some other systems, I can run a goblin, an orc, a demon, an ancient dragon, an acient dragon having consumed a demon who is currently pretending to be a goblin, a tribble... anything I want, all using the same simple rules. DnD takes each of those things, and gives it unique rules. But at the end of the day... you simply cannot have a single rule set that covers everything.
And this creates a weird disconnect I think, where people are pissed at WoTC, which is like twenty people at this point, for not creating literally every single unique rule. And I find it weird, because most people seem to have very specific, very clear things they want from these rules.... but won't be happy unless WoTC makes them. And yeah, even the people who scoff at that and claim they don't care, you still come and complain month after month after month that WoTC isn't doing it right. They hold up the game that gives them the precise rules they want, and claim that this is the new DnD killer that will topple WoTC who dared not make this specific thing that they wanted.
I know this is throwing a live grenade into a fireworks factory, but consider just for a moment the gnashing of teeth that happened when "Drow" was no longer a statblock, and how almost immediately multiple voices were quieted when WoTC announced they were going to have an evil drow statblock in a future book. Meanwhile, the entire time, everyone who was so pissed off knew EXACTLY what the "Drow" statblock they wanted looked like. They could list every ability of the drow, the proper stats for them, their proficiency bonus, what equipment they used and their average hp... but they were not satisfied because they couldn't turn to a page, printed by WoTC specifically for the 2024 Revision, that had that statblock already created for them.
DnD 5e is highly customizable, incredibly so actually because the math is very very solid. Hundreds of people have created custom content for it, ranging every genre, desire, and niche thing you might care to imagine... but human imagination is infinite, and just like a coastline, the more you try and break it down into smaller and smaller bespoke rules, the more infinite it becomes. WoTC cannot create everything. WoTC plus every homebrewer on the planet, from those selling hardcover rulebooks to those on reddit making posts about super vampire anti-paladins cannot create literally everything. Give me a few minutes googling, and I could play a pretty pony wielding an anti-material rifle fighting Mech-Dinosaurs while trying to stop Unicron from eating the planet. Those rules already exist.
This isn't to say I don't understand. I do. Making the tools to make the things you want to make is time consuming and annoying. It is so much easier to have someone make it for you. I will still advocate for an actually functional crafting system for this game from WoTC, so I can stop cobbling together a rule set then trying to sell a DM to use it. Be really nice. But I don't think WoTC has done anything WRONG by not creating a better crafting system. Because in the end... the game is what we make of it. And they have made something that is going to LAST.
