New Forgotten Realms designed by FR haters?

[Arnwyn]

And this purely speculation on my part since I wasn't playing D&D yet, but perhaps the dislike of the ToT had more to do with some of the kneejerk reaction that 2e in general faced initially than it did the actual changes to 2e FR?

I started with 2e... and the ToT still sucked.

So I, personally, doubt it.

 

[Bishop Odo]

When I first read the title of this post, some time ago, I thought you where some hater and full of it. Then I just read the Forgotten Realms 4th rewrite book or a least, I got a long look at my local store. Christ, what the heck did they do, merge two realms of reality, kill off or replace an unpopular continent. Why? Just because it did not sell and it was cheaper to merge a beloved setting, with some new area to sell more stuff. WOTC, suck it up and just move on, create something original if you need to... Has all the talent left, that’s what I really want to known and now all this PDF crud.

Pathfinder where are you.

 

[Henry]

And see, that's a perspective I'm not familiar with. I never played the ToT modules, or even read them. I'm familiar with the ToT via the novels and later sourcebooks touching upon them. If the modules were that railroady, I can easily see how it would sour people on the events.

You said you'd read the novels? Then you've read the modules, too. The NPCs were the stars, and you either played the pre-gens, and did what was required at the key points, or you got out of their way. You aren't an adventurer in that series, you're a tourist.

That said, I didn't mind most of the ToT. It wasn't that bad, but they killed off three deities with a lot of good characterization, and replaced them with one serial killer of a god. Basically, a lot of the complaints that people have leveled at the 4E Realms, could be leveled at the 2E Realms, for a lot of the same reasons - the god reductions, the changes in magic, the remodelling of some established locales (like Tantras), etc.