I'd rather read a well-written book with lots of detailed, realistic characters than one that plays to the crowd.

Preaching to the choir here. Every time I see comments that some author should do this or that thing "otherwise they're cheating the fans", I have to pipe up and say that good authors are true to their story, and the fans can go hang. And being true to the story might mean writing something that pisses every last one of your fans off, but if that's the story you have to tell, you're stuck with it.