Who is the best BioWare writer, and why?

I agree with everyting you said about Chris L'Etoile.

I would agree, but to me Dombrow is like your average "very compent but by the book and safe" industry writer. He jumps from studio to studio writing this and that, and he's good at writing but he doesn't always completely have his heart in it, not the way you can tell Drew Karpyshyn or most other writers of ME1 really were in awe of what they were coming up with themselves. I think Dombrow sticks to tried and tested ideas when it comes to writing characters and he also has a clear fondness for the Marvel Cinematic Universe which I really don't like. I think the Tuchanka arc in ME3 was the most solid and professional craft in the game, but it literally feels like it's a movie that hits all the notes of a hollywood summer blockbuster film, completely with characters posing and saying profound catchphrases that make you cry, and for that I think it became theatrical and hard to feel immersed in.

There are times in the games where it feels like the characters are really people, but whenever you interact with the things Dombrow has officially taken credit for I think the characters talk in a way where they seem to self-aware that they are in an epic cinematic story, just with the way they riff off on each other with their line delivery. It's too rehearsed and too clean somehow, the same problem with Resident Evil 6; It's objectively better because there's proper pacing, direction but it feels like it's written by someone who does this in his sleep and goes by the book.

I'm okay if people completely disagree, I know Dombrow is revered, and I am more happy to have him than Schlerf or Walters in Andromeda to be honest, just so we can at least have some consistency and professional work to discover in the game, but I never quite feel the magic in the scenes of ME3 he worked on. I have this idea that he was distanced to his work whereas even people like Mac Walters wrote scenes where he put himself into the script in a good way, like Anderson's scenes or some of Shepard's conflicted moments. Sometimes it was awkward or uncanny but it felt more innocent. (I hope at least someone will understand what I'm driving at)

Does anyone know if either one of them is still writing anything... anywhere since leaving Bioware?

As for the question... don't think it should be a competition.  I think writing a game should be an entire team effort... so I don't really pay attention who wrote exactly what individual parts.  Eventually, it's most likely up to the editors to pull the whole game together.

And Gaider is working for Beamdog as creative directer of some secret project.

I'd have to agree with this assessment.  L'etoile's contributions to Mass Effect were some of the most thought-provoking aspects of the games.  ANd he clearly took the concept of science fiction seriously, not waving it off as "fantasy in space"

David Gaider is an amazing writer. It's easy to say you don't enjoy DAI if you were a fan of the first or the first two (and I count myself among that number). But the reason I dislike DAI has nothing to do with the writing.

Mr Gaider is an outstanding game writer and his characters and stories have fascinated and moved me as much as the best films, theatre or novels I have encountered.

In case you didn't notice, I'm quite the fan of his.

And I smugly thought I was one of the very few L'Etoile fans.

Well done all.

I like Chris L'Etoile too so I agree with you OP. He did a wonderful job in making ME less cartonish and providing essential lore that made the universe believable. I wish they called him back.

I also like Drew he did a fantastic job as lead writer in ME1.

I like Dombrow he did Tuchanka and Surkesh which I liked and also Javik was one of the most interesting ME3 characters.

I'm positive about the game but we will see. I just hope they avoid the cartoonish oversemplification that plagued many modern sci-fi games.

Sometimes they reveal it on Twitter, at panels etc. and sometimes I think it's easy to tell from the dialogue in the games. I know there is editing and stuff, but for example, if you see characters named "Som'gai" you know, a name with apostrophes in it like that, it's Patrick Weekes. I also feel like half the "tongue in cheek" characters or anyone named Drax, Janx or Wrex, James, Drack or Hunk are Mac Walters characters. I mean, the inflection and writing conventions of each writer give them away sometimes, despite the editing across the board.

There was a collective list on the old boards in a topic that had gathered all confirmed info from around the internet and listing which characters and what games were written by who etc. and it was pretty extensive.

Sometimes I wish I could forget it though and go back to when I was blisfully ignorant about the fact that Mass Effect was even "written" though, because everything, even the plot-mistakes I didn't notice the first times through ME1 or 2 made it feel organic, but knowing that they juggle it between writers and playing the games more I notice more and more how the tone and style can sometimes be a tad inconsistent because the writers don't always bounce off each other well. I mean, some missions are really detailed and sci-fi esque but then others are generic and vague. There's a world of difference between the levels of substance to the Cerberus/Citadel arcs in ME3 to the Rannoch or Tuchanka sections. I don't count ME2 to be honest, it didn't even have a proper lead writer because he left before the final script was done and it seemed like nobody took properly care of how the central arc of ME2 was handled, and it focused more on side stuff.

I'm skeptical of what Andromeda's writing will be like, tbh. Schlerf's job with Halo 4 was competent... I guess? But it was just so forgettable and revisiting it it had some absolutely terrible lines of dialogue from time to time or forced drama. Reading his comics drafted and penned by him leaves me with confidence that he's at least a guy who knows how to consistently write because each page is filled with lines of text that stick to a focused plot, but I just think his writing is a bit on the generic side. It's a bunch of space marines fighting other guys talking in military and technicaly acronyms and the drama is kept to some generic "Marla, I thought you promised me you'd never stray from your duty!" stuff. IDK, I was just skimming past most of his work out of curiosity; I'm sure Andromeda will have a sizable story with all the boxes checked of diverse cast members and a bad guy to beat... I just hope it's not forgettable.

Oh yeah, never got around to describing the terrible lines. Here's one. Master Chief: "Something tells me that someone knows what the Didact is up to". No wonder this guy is writing for Destiny now.

That's one thing I never really liked about L'Etoile... that he publicly complained about the people who were higher paid than he directing how they wanted characters like Legion to be portrayed in the game.  That's their job... and it just made me think that L'Etoile really isn't much of a team player.  Even though individuals write their own segments... someone has to pull the whole game together... and that means that every writer just can't do their own thing exactly as they want to.

It's got to be Drew for me. I'd have loved to see the dark energy play out. I've also consistently loved his writing outside the games, both ME and Star Wars.