No. I'm gladly admitting I've never played a game of D&D in my life. And if an RPG starts out with an encyclopedia of text (it really wants me to read) and has character creation that can easily allow non D&D nerds to create a broken character that can't complete the game, I'm glad they pissed off the D&D crowd to serve the rest of us. The haters can call it dumb downed, and I'll embrace their hatred and accept the crown, but IMO I consider it necessary streamlining. It's a genre that was way too convoluted for its own good.
And besides, had they not did this, they never would have expanded the market. And they'd be just as niche as JRPGs have become. Some people here crucify games if they don't have AAAA graphics, and call them indie crap without it, but that's the price you pay. If you want the mega-budget, you need to expand outside of the hardcore D&D crowd. You can't have both and it really irritates me when people go on tirades wanting both.
I'm not saying I'm a fan of the dumbing down of gaming, cause I'm not. I'm just saying I love the new Bethesda cause as a non D&D gamer who actually likes adventure gaming, the WRPG was in fact way too convoluted for my tastes.
