I cannot stand Forgotten Realms. Never liked it going all the way back to 2nd edition.
Greyhawk was a MUCH better setting, with a more cohesive vision and CERTAINLY a much more interesting cosmology
Forgotten Realms is a hodge-podge of 20 settings glued together with zero appreciation for thematic crossover that has been revamped and rebooted so many times that substantial class mechanic differences DEPEND ON WHAT ERA YOU ARE PLAYING IN! That is fucking INSANE
Greyhawk presented an eternal timelessness where you could drop in on any era without having to read 5+ years of errata notes on why they renamed the negative energy plane and whether or not you are allowed to cast anything above 3rd level
The Great Wheel was, is, and will ALWAYS be the most fertile and relatable cosmology that has ever existed in a d20 setting and they changed it purely for CHANGE’S SAKE!
TL;DR: Fuck Forgotten Realms, LONG LIVE GREYHAWK!
In all fairness, you can still do what we had to do in the 3.0 days before it actually moved over to FR by default and just… Set your game in that setting.
I don’t know how fucked up the rules have gotten first-hand (cuz I never got the books for 4 or 5 because I didn’t care for them when I played campaigns in the rules), but surely they still have sections on how to convert/create things to fit the rules in the DM handbook, right?
In all fairness, the focus on Forgotten Realms meant a ton of more resources went into developing modules and merchandise for that patchwork mess than the primary setting the actual developers played in
Can you IMAGINE if Greyhawk had HALF the budget of Forgotten Realms…