Playtests are difficult animals, especially the way Mearls and his crew have gone about it. It has been fragmented and ever changing. So NOT having the big picture yet has been pretty much agreeable amongst most playtesters. That in itself is an issue because it has been claimed that we are at the end of the playtest and that WoTC will be off on their own now with no further input from playtesters needed. Hopefully the next packet does have that bigger picture flavor to it but I'm really skeptical on that right now.
SETTINGS: "It's ironic how a setting can be so great to set novels in, yet disappoint to play in.
Take this from an old hand. I met Arneson in Wisconisn when I was very young, a few years after Blackmoor came out. I grilled him with questions and he made the same statements that Gary did. USE YOUR IMAGINATION.
Any setting, whether it is Golarion, Forgotten Realms, etc... all of those are fluff. You can choose to make it the setting you want and in fact, if you are not playing that way already, you need to find a DM who understands that and go for it. Forgotten Realms is an awesome setting. ANY novel, fluff book, setting book, whatever, can be used to create your story/backstory in the realms. If a setting is disappointing to play in, point the finger at your DM and ask him/her to try again.
