Would Darksun have been a better 1st release for 4e?

[Jhaelen]

So why not Eberron? That would have worked far better than the Realms.

I agree!

 

[Neonchameleon]

Actually I know very little of Eberron, but it probably would have been a better 1st release than FR.

Eberron's much more of a kitchen sink world than Dark Sun - it's right up there with Golarion, Greyhawk, and the Realms as somewhere you can find most fantasy tropes. It has its own spin, of course. And depth to it.

The problem with using the Realms as the first setting is that it was either produced by people who fundamentally disliked the Realms or produced for said people. I'm one of them. And almost everything that would prevent me wanting to play in the Realms was removed. But that was what most Realms fans liked. Eberron as first, Realms as second keeping it as the Forgotten Realms rather than Forgotten Realms: The Next Generation would have IMO been the best option.

 

[Derulbaskul]

Dark Sun would have been a disaster from a business point-of-view. A new ruleset, particularly one that so profoundly differs to its predecessor, needs a fairly standard setting.

I agree with other posters who suggested that PoL-land should have been the first campaign setting released: a fairly generic fantasy setting built around the 4E ruleset.

(I actually really like the post-Spellplague Realms and the versions that came before it. However, WotC should have actually spent some money on a map rather than going the bum-wipe route.)