Understandable. The man probably has the strongest split of fanboys and haters around.
At this point I don't care who is involved, I just want a decent old school MMO. For all his failings, I cannot deny that the games he has been involved in have been by far the best MMO experiences I have had, even the 'flop' that was Vanguard was one of the most enjoyable pieces of gameplay in any MMO. So I will certainly give him the benefit of the doubt in this. Course, I am also not blindly jumping on the bandwagon of belief that it ill be the best thing ever.
EQ was the best (for its time) it had MANY flaws, but it rewarded the hardcore and devoted far more than any game has since. WoW (sorry its still king so you have to compare) Is easy street, even before they watered it down to phone game status (time = achievements/loot/items) There was almost no content that couldn't be done by an ok set of pub players. EQ never catered to the average player, which was its downfall too, in the end every Expansion had something anybody could use (new class, new race/class combo/ new AA points,new zone anybody could step into), and the rest of it 75% or more was just for the hardcore.. in the end half or more of the player base never saw all those new zones. I truly loved the game, but going back to it now shows how majorly flawed it is. But in its day, nobody could compete it was the best for its work/reward system.
I wonder if there can every be another Huge hit, nobody wants to grind, none, even us old school players dont like it anymore, everybody wants to be special and we all know we all cant be. You make it hard, you lock out 90% of your player base, you make it easy (you have wow) you have to pump out content on a monthly basis or fill the game with so many time sinks some people wont notice (vanity pets, trade skills that all but worthless, titles, faction grinds, mount runs, pet battles, achievements, etc). Its pretty much the same, new game comes out, we all rush to play and then dump it in 30 days. We are jaded in an impossible to correct way i think.