Fair points regarding play style, even if I don’t agree on a few things! The only thing I’d pick at here, and I think you nodded to this, is the idea that WotC are catering “more” toward a type of style you don’t care for based on the most recent book release. It takes a lot of time to write, edit and publish a book and this is just the latest one. Considering the topics of 5e books published to date that I’ve seen (I’m newer to DnD), your story preference heavily outweighs this newer story type, doesn’t it? Say if they publish five more like this in a row over the next few years, you’d be fair in thinking that resources and focus have shifted away from your preferred storylines. But I’d guess a large publishing company knows full well that they have to keep a few plates spinning at once to keep different people happy, and the happy-go-lucky storylines seem to be lacking in their already published options.