Classic Rock, and the 'Hair Bands' of 40k

Okay, so this is more personal editorial.

Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin, the Doors, the Beatles (don't take missing your faves/styles, just pulling outta my arse early on a Sungday)...etc etc etc.
60's and 70's and even early 80's.
These bands, and styles, and many others, are classics...whether you love em or hate em, they're classics.
People know their names, have heard their music...and they pop up on Radio (or even have entire stations dedicated to the themes of their genres).

Yet delve into the 90's, or the (what, ought's? 00's? wtf?) and you encounter schizophrenia, and a lack of defining groups (or styles) that feel 'classic'(okay, the 2000's may be too close for that, but the 90's are not...and the 00's feel the same to me). Or worse, a string of American Idol spam...or Beiber's.

The 'instant gratification' intrawebz/reality TV generation has stamped its own earmarks all over our entertainment industry...
and even our gaming.

Look at 40k...look carefully at the last few years.
Matt 'fluff-killer' Ward...'nuff said?
His stamp is starting to creep up in it all.

Going, and going fast, are the solid and defining 'fluff-mines' of the 40k universe. The codices people WANT to keep, regardless of how out of date they are, as resources and entertainment. As muses to their hobby, inspirations for their armies.

Codex creep is always a 'concern' of the player base...whether you believe in it or not...but what about codex-retcon?
The trends of throwing the depth of the 'universe' we play in out the window, to satisfy an ever growing and HUNGRY net-scape of douchebuggery (not competitive players, but the ever distracted...gotta have the next new and UNIQUE...power/netlisters AND real WAAC players).
Seriously, Grey Knights mass sacrifice of a Sisters of Battle force who nobly resisted a daemonic incursion...just to douse their weapons in the blood of innocents? That was a Ward-ism...just an egregious example, but one...(or allying Necrons/BA...).
And these fluff rewrites are being utilized to excuse over-the-top power amps...the MTGing of our universe. I mean, I am all for the shifting of meta...the pushing of envelopes, and the occasional sacred-cow smashing...but in the last 4 codices, I think we've lost more golden-calves than Moses could think of smashing...and we've lost some important ones...all to the altar of 'MOAR POWAH'.
Ward may be a symptom (and he is NOT alone is his mutilation of the hobby for sales, just the most egregious offender)...and I understand a sales technique when I see one...BUT it can go just a bit too far, and in typical GW fashion it has with a vengeance.

After looking over the changes I have seen, I wonder if the 40k universe is going to survive this level of casual ret-con.
Will the core, the essence...the 'fluff'...of this universe survive 'Matt-Wardification'...and the ever spastic, infinitesimal, attention span of the digital age.

Wow, that's some heavy shit dude... I may have to do a couple "crunches" and get back with you on this...

We've all seen it happening, but what can you do? Hope that 40k survives this cycle and economic, GW personel, x-factors change the way they do things . Well we can always hope.

First, for me is.... who is Matt Ward? Give me the low down on him. Designer of the newer codexes?

Are you saying that players aren't concerned with the fluff as much as what power lists can be made from said codexes?

Less the player base as a whole, and more a woo-ing of power-play with no regard for fluff...at all. outright flushing of fluff and precedent in favor of more power.

Ward is an example, but a severe one.
He wrote BA, has written the new GK, and a few others (and is apparently doing Necrons, who look to be shitting vehicles like flies soon...but that's rumour, we shall see).
Cruddace wrote IG (a little tweaking, not a great deal of violation) and 'nids. His concepts stayed fairly consistent between the two, but they didn't translate as well to 'nids...and he only added units that shifted toward the 'bigger stuff' concept GW is going with. He did a good job of balancing change with playability, and then 'nids took it in the nads...both with regards to other 'dexes and FAQ.
Kelly (IIRC) did SW, and managed the 'spirit' fairly well but still violated older background a bit for me...in favor of new power units they then failed to supply models for, or were easy to spam with a vengeance.

My problem isn't power, I understand shifting meta for both freshness and sales.
My problem is a complete lack of respect, from 'Ward-ites', for the universe the books are set in...in favor of statisfying the OP/immediate gratification generation. Slower shifts, or 'within story' shifts, are healthier for the hobby overall.
Second to last thing I want to see is a repeat of the 'nerf-zone' dexes (Dark Angels/CSM/Eldar) we had under Thorpe's auspices,
but the last thing I want to see is a massive ret-con of what makes GW unique for the sole purpose of sales...at the cost of the 'heart and soul' of it, and possibly the game as we know it (see; 4e D&D for example).

WORD!!!!!!!!!