I think one of the biggest traps that White Wolf writers fall into is marketing the World of Darkness as "Gothic Punk" but misunderstanding the difference between Gothic Punk and Grimdark. There are superficial similarities between these two world building styles, but in the important details they couldn't be more different
Gothic Punk means three primary things. The world is like ours but has its worst problems, like crime, overpopulation, pollution, etc, all played up from how they are in reality. The world, despite its darkness, had a great deal of beauty to be seen within the darkness: that's the "Gothic" aspect. Finally, there is hope in the setting for change, and a chance to fight back against the powers that be and change things for the better, even if it's a long shot, and hard as hell, the chance for hope is there: that's the "punk" aspect.
Grimdark is where the world is hopeless. There's no chance for things to ever get better, and the best you can do is try to prevent them from falling apart as fast, and maybe creating a future for some small group if you play your cards right. Grimdark can be fun too, but things in a Grimdark setting are even more fucked up than in Gothic Punk. The fun of the setting comes from the whole "rage against the dying of the light" mood, where you know things are going to shit fast, but you plan to go down fighting
The distinction between these two moods is what separates the World of Darkness from something like 40k. Gothic Punk is a world where a dumb Brujah neonate can get lucky and kill the founder of the Camarilla, or, if you've played bloodlines, where a dumb neonate with luck and a lot of help can dust the Prince of LA and a Tzimisce elder. It's the world where the Garou maybe have a shot at taking down Pentex, even if it's a hard one. Where the Traditions can score major victories against the Technocracy every now and then, and hold their own.
There are some writers at White Wolf who just don't understand this. And most of the dumb choices that are made in the Metaplot, especially in recent books, can be traced back to this.
