Immortal
Arcane
Although Forgotten Realms is pretty shit post 4E
I still like the settings. I stopped at 3.5, so not sure what 4E changed, in terms of lore and world. I occasionally still skim through the settings manual for ideas and inspiration.
Everything is destroyed.
Calimshan / Calimport are ruled by Djinn rulers and everyone else is a slave or killed (all lore books about customs / families / myths and folklore are now obsolete)
Mulhorand is Destroyed (Same issue as before)
Thay is Destroyed (Ruled by legions of undead)
Lanatan.. Destroyed
Shade Enclave takes over Sembia, Then both are destroyed
Myth Drannor Destroyed
ect..
Years of developing these cultures and worlds and writing huge books on their back story and customs. WotC decided to have big EXPLOSHUNS wrecking everything, almost like a 14 year old seeing a huge castle made of lego and kicking it down so he can build his own version of the castle without using the existing instructions that made the castle so detailed and aesthetically pleasing, 10 minutes later he realizes it's kinda hard and walks away with some weird Frankenstein of crap half built, the left overs scattered around the room.
One word:
Seriously, why? WTF? Did then ran out of paper, so they needed a way to make the new settings manual no more than 56 pages, and obliterating half the world was their best idea?
Something like that. I feel like WotC hired a bunch of 20 year old writers out of college who thought FR should be more like Halo. Another favorite campaign falls into "KungFu Wizard Ninja" land along with Dragon Age and Lord of the Rings and many other loved fantasy worlds, along with new worlds like PoE.
This is why I love Witcher so much.. Yea it may get a little edgy / high fantasy sometimes. It hasn't gone full retard yet. Magic still feels important. If you see a mage or magic you know it's a big deal. Not everyone and their grandma is some kind of blue flame mage ninja god demon thing.
IMO - You need a world that makes sense, with rich lore and grounded issues of people and cultures colliding. Then you sprinkle in the fantasy. Forgotten Reams decided to start eating the sugar right out of the bag.