And I find the following to be nonsense.
Very well, let's play this game.
1: Elminster keeps putting himself in my adventures in the Realms so my players never feel like they are the stars of the show.
Then don't play Realms. The recent survey shows that over half of all games in 5E are homebrew. Then you don't have this problem. You can still use the APs too, as IIRC, they give advice on how to run outside of Realms.
2: Everytime Wizards puts out a book I have to buy it and allow the material in my games because I can't say no and my games end up being bloated and full of powercreep so I would rather Wizards just not print as many books. I also don't care that others won't have these options just as long as I won't have to tell my players no.
That's easy: WotC has already committed to a much slower release rate, limiting the bloat you fear. Of course, you could always grow a spine and learn that as DM your desires for the game matter too.
3: There are just too much lore for the Forgotten Realms to the point where all those words on the pages make it to where I can't filter what I want to use and what I want to ignore so it makes me to where I can't even run a game in the Realms.
Again: DON'T! Obviously you have many issues with FR. Why you feel the need to post your hate of a setting you really shouldn't be playing in, is quite beyond me.
Etc.
These big AP's "do" have an overall impact on the Realms as a whole because their goal is to have everything tie in together. Events in the Realms are going to happen a certain way no matter how the PC's do. At least with small individual adventurers they don't tie into the overall storyline.
Sure they do. The four adventure series Bloodstone Pass effected the outcome of a large area in both Faerun and the Abyss. So did Murder in Baulder's Gate. So did dozens of adventures for Greyhawk. The difference is how you deal with changes between the "official" story and what happened in your campaign. If you reboot your campaign every few years (as is common), then you can either adjust the official story to your campaign, or alter your campaign to fit the story. Every DM does this.
Just on your statistics there. You don't know what the majority want and you don't know if you are in the minority or not. If Wizards thinks they are going to make more money on something down the road, which I believe they do with regards to the movie and other merchandise, then they are going to say and do anything in order to keep the customers going in that direction, even though the majority of customers may not want it.
I don't think you understand how business works. If they keep putting out products the majority of customer's don't want, this will affect sales. It is my understanding that the APs sell very well, bu if trends change, then so will WotC. For now, that makes us the minority; deal with it.
Do you know the largest attitude I have come across with regards to the stuff now? "It's better than having nothing." Also, if you look at their pie charts then it shows that most people are playing in homebrew and not necessarily AL. AL is there to push the population into a certain direction.
Two things:
The largest attitude I have come across with regards to the stuff has been "WOW, this is awesome!" Your experience and my experience are both FAR to small a sample size to be considered valid.
AL is not there to push the population into a certain direction. It's the same setup as Living Greyhawk and Living City (which was FR). It's organized play designed after (or stolen from) Pathfinder Society. AL is currently Realms because that's the supported setting it may or may not change when they move on to other things. [Assuming you made an error, and meant AP instead of AL, then you are correct. AL is there to push the customers to enjoy a product that the apparent majority desire.
