The Cult of ‘87 certainly does hold the IP hostage. The obsession with the bloody unseen issue alone has almost capsized us multiple times. I’m all for any retcons that loosen the grip of the early fasa days on the franchise.
You're forgetting the cult of '00, who remember just how rough the transition from FASA to Wizkids was, and the bodyblow the player base took from it.
And the cult of '94, who remember having to deal with the severely under-costed tarcomp/cLPL mechs of the time and point system.
I think poeple are afraid of things being done poorly. As for me, I'm fairly unlikely to get the PDF, but I'm all for letting the players of each group find out which timeline is true, and which is ridiculous comstar/government propaganda.
"Don't you believe the cow patties from the movie, it wasn't a Highlander from a star league cache, it was a second succession war Vindicator from a crashed Liao dropship. What do you mean you don't believe me, I was there and they shot my mech was shot out from under me."
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As for moving the timeline forward, I wouldn't mind the focus of the setting moving away from the inner sphere and the charlie-foxtrot that is the dork ages.