[Thunderbird]

...

tl;dr - It's not GW's job to stop people from being jerks, yo.

I did read the whole thing but to address this point.

Much of the contemporary player base expects this. It isnt the 90s anymore. Online games patch for balancing constantly. They moderate player behaviour heavily. Many table top games are also patching their games regularly now because they know they can't trust their entire player base. The expectation on GW to do these things is growing because we are getting these services from their other competitors. (be it direct competition in wargaming or general entertainment competitors like online games).

 

[Thunderbird]

You hit the nail on the head - fairly solidly. This has created the environment for many other game systems with simpler rules to gain market share. Sure, no one is close and everyone else has a LONG way to go. Not sure if this has all that much to do with the OP, but I for one have moved 90% of my game playing to the KoW ruleset. You have no idea how wonderful, refreshing and a better gaming experience it is. It is more about the true strategy than the latest army, OP list and characters. But, it certainly is not for everyone.

My gaming group is going through the same thing transitioning to DZC. Some of us but not enough were interested in Dreadball from Mantic to start a league for it. I do agree that Mantic's Kings of War is a tighter system than WFB.