I've never understood the appeal of Drizzt. Yes, there are a lot of books from Salvatore about the character, but that doesn't mean they represent the Realms well. He specifically set out to write his books in a Realms bubble so he didn't have to worry about anything else going on in the world.

To quote Sheldon, "you haven't given me a gift, you've given me an obligation."

As someone who played every edition of d&d (except 4) and DM'd every edition (except 4), I can say I most enjoyed 3e, 3.5e, and 3.75 (Pathfinder) because they were rules heavy. I do find 5e frustrating at times when someone wants to do something that isn't covered in the rules. I am perfectly able to make consistent, logical decisions on these on the fly, but I shouldn't have to. And for other DMs, it becomes a bit of preferential treatment where someone can do this thing not covered in the rules, but everyone else gets told no.

Of course, sometimes the rules are too heavy - grapple in 3.5/3.75 became a meme for us. There must be a balance somewhere. :)