I have been running my first 5e campaign after an absence from D&D, and, for the most part, is has been enjoyable. I've adjusted the materials (so far, we are about to complete Phandelver) so that it is set in Greyhawk- boxed set, circa 1983 (more open ended).
Anyway, on the one hand, I appreciate that the core books of 5e have nods to the various campaign settings within them. On the other hand... Forgotten Realms ("FR") is the default? I was hoping that I could get a little input from the knowledgeable people here.
Forgotten Realms isn't the default, its the example. Whenever the core-books needed an example, they used FR (mostly, the example Pantheon in the DMG is the Nentir Vale one, but I digress). The modules are set in FR as part of their Adventure League strategy, and the games are set there because it makes it easy for the designers to use the established lore (and the most successful D&D video games of the past 20 years have been FR: Baldur's Gate, Icewind Dale, Neverwinter Nights, Neverwinter MMO, etc. Only Strormreach [Eberron] and Temple of Elemental Evil [Greyhawk, and a POS to boot] broke the trend).
1. Why was FR chosen as the default? I understand that 5e had a lot of feedback, so is this the most popular campaign setting in general?
Not popular, but well known. It has had several successful video games, novels, comics, and such. It has a huge library of resources and lore. And above all, it doesn't outright contradict the "classic" D&D lore they way say Dragonlance or Eberron does. IMHO, there are three "generic" D&D worlds: Greyhawk, Mystara, and Forgotten Realms. Greyhawk comes in two flavors: Gygaxian (lightly described, basically blank slate) or Post Gygaxian (with its own metaplots and Mary Sue NPCs) and Mystara hasn't been produced in 20 years (and is rooted heavily in Basic D&D assumptions). Forgotten Realms starts looking like the no-brainer in this situation.
2. This is more of a question, perhaps, to enlighten me- why do I hate FR so much? I love different campaign settings. Spelljammer and Planescape to connect them, home-brew, Greyhawk, Eberron, Krynn, Al-Qadim/Kara-Tur (yes, I know that they may be considered "part" of FR, but they are standalone), and so on. But ever since FR came out, I disliked everything about it. I hated Elminster. I hated the mythos and the world. I hated, hated, hated Drizzt.
Perception is colored by experience. Your first experience was with Greyhawk, so its the basis you compare it to.
So why? Okay, I know why I hated Elminster (stand in for Greenwood) and Drizzt (that's just a terrible, terrible character). But what about the campaign world? Should I go back and give it a second chance? I'm genuinely curious- I honestly don't remember why I disliked it so intensely, which is odd, and it looks like there will be a lot of material coming down the pipeline. Thoughts?
I find it funny you hate Elminster for being Greenwood's avatar, because that is EXACTLY what I do with Mordenkainen, Tenser, Rolibar, Rary, all all the rest of the Circle of the Eight/Former PCs of Gary's. Don't get my started on Zygag.
As for giving it another chance, here is what I suggest. Wait until November and read the Sword Coast Adv Guide. At the very least, you're getting some new crunch ideas that need a bit of name adjustment. Then, read the fluff. If its to your liking, then decide if you would be interested in doing more. If its not, steal a few good ideas and toss the rest. Go in with an open mind, but if it doesn't appeal then no harm done. You at least got a few subraces and subclasses for the deal.