WOTC were always a trading card company. They just branched out into RPGs by buying TSR.
Unfortunately, every edition of A/D&D has gotten worse than the last as they keep trying to design something that's friendly to computer game manufacturers rather than tabletop players.
When the mentality is 'oh no! The players are being creative in their use of that spell! Ban it!' you know the company has no business making Tabletop RPGs.
