"Remember the Sundering?
Some of you might remember the Gen Con Keynote last year where we told you about the Sundering, a huge event that will change the Forgotten Realms forever. The time has come to revisit that topic briefly now so that you know this: Check out DungeonsandDragons.com tomorrow and find out how you can participate in the various events tied to the Sundering and how you too can play a part in reshaping the future of the Realms."
I think Forgotten Realms began to have problems at some point in the 3rd Edition. Nothing comparable to what was done in 4th Edition, but the third, I was thinking the setting very different from what I had known and charmed the 1st and 2nd edition.
I think it's lack of imagination all these "returns of..." Netheril, Imaskar, elves, Sammaster, dragons, etc., that have occurred in recent years. Many great histories of the past Realms were reused in the present. For me, it takes away the magic of these histories. I like these histories of Faerun in the past, not the present.
When I started playing in the Forgotten Realms, one of the things I liked most was the feeling of being an old world, very old, full of places to be explored. In the third edition, the past was so present due to these "returns" that I no longer felt that sense of ancestry Realms. All was very vibrant, modern and spectacular in the third edition. It seems to me that it was a way to appeal to sell more books, sacrificing the souls of the Realms. In the 1st and 2nd Edition, the world was more realistic, and somehow more palpable. It's hard to explain, but the setting was more nicer.
Finally, I never understood what was the point of killing icons characters of Realms. I was still mourning Azoun when Khelben and Halaster were also killed. This just to name a few.
I honestly do not know how they could fix the Realms without making a retcom of chronology. But I will hope ...