Anybody remember writer Chris L'Etoile?

He left pretty much as soon as the EA deal was official. That probably had something to do with it. I don't think he ever publicly explained why, though.

Ah, Chris L'Etoille. My favorite ME writer of all time. He also used to come on the forums and discuss details of ME's pseudo-science with the fans (that was back in the day of the very old legacy BW forums, before even the first iteration of BSN). Great guy.

What the ME team desperately needed was a lore master, someone who has an overview over what was already in the lore and made sure that every new thing written would fit into that. Chris might have been a great choice to be that voice in the writing team.
Unfortunately, I think there are indications that the team actively did not want this. Mac Walters especially makes remarks again and again that he doesn't want the stories about the characters restricted by the wider lore of the universe. For him, characters are the most important part, story and lore come second (he says this in many interviews).
To my mind, this was one of the main issues with Mass Effect (the OT and from what we've seen from interviews about ME:A, it's not going to change). Because in my mind, great characters can only be built if they have a consistent world to act in and if they have an interesting story arc to interact with. Too me, the focus on characters over story is a false dichotomy, they are equal and integrated aspects of the entire work of fiction and making this separation and valuing one over the other has hurt the story of ME much more than it helped.

Yes, not every line Chris wrote was great but I felt that he understood that BW needed to build a consistent and detailed world around their story and their characters for them to be believable. It would do the ME team good to get someone who takes this background and this consistency seriously, not for it's own sake or to satisfy us lore nerds but because it actually makes the job of writing a compelling story within the universe with great characters easier for the authors in the long run.

Where did you read that Chris created the Rachni though? I'm not sure Noveria was his level. We can't be sure whether the Rachni was inceptioned via the codex first or the scenario of the mission.

He didn't create them per say, but he did write all the dialogue for Noveria, which would include the Rachni Queen. Their design was more than likely pre-established, but it was L'Etoile that gave them that 'alien' spark.

Lol, no wonder they got the shaft in ME3 too then. Them, The Geth and EDI (IMO). There was no subtlety and the Rachni literally felt like Mac or the other writers were like "gah... what was the point of these creatures? Can someone write a mission so fans are happy? Anyone?"

Yeah, very ironic that the best handled choice was still a complete letdown, huh.

I'm just bummed they didn't at least make it exclusive content to those that saved the queen and then ommitted all Rachni-reaper enemies for those that kept it dead. Easier difficulty but less war assets, more unique content rather than spoiling the illusion of choice. Every major choice has this copy-paste factor. Killed the council? Well, you get one that almost looks identical (but I do appreciate how the Salarian councilor switched Gender) and what happened to the ruthlessness of human dominance that was so beautifull painted over all of the Citadel in ME2 anywhere you went? Was that really so hard to replicate again? It's just dialogue, but no, human-first was the tagline for ME3 because that's what Mac thinks.

Did you guys see the new Exploration video for Andromeda too? Mac did it again. He said something along the lines of "Humans are special" in it. It's so backwards to what Mass Effect is. It's not that we're special because we're diverse or some stupid crap, it's that we work together because that makes us diverse.

I just re-watched the trailer, but I didn't hear any mention of anything like that, though I may have missed it. Where specifically was this mentioned? 

I do admit that BioWare is rather stuck on the trope of humans being special in general however.

I know he has a Linkedin profile that links to his current job and other info. He also is an active reddit user by the name "Stormwaltz" but the few times I've prodded him he hasn't responded so I think he'd like to stay out of Mass Effect talking. He did mention Mass Effect in some posts not too long ago though.

I dug up more proof that contrary to naysayers shows how much even other BioWare writers and writers across the industry value this guy's skills.
From Linkedin recommendations under Chris L'Etoile
No wonder Casey admitted they resorted to the fanmade Wikis for brushing up on lore with this game. Had L'Etoile been around they could've simply asked him. Also, the bolded made me laugh out loud. The second bolded made me cry when I think of Andromeda.

And a Lead Writer at Bungie who apparently worked with L'Etoile some day.
Again, I don't care if you disliked Ashley or whatever... this guy has been sorely missed during the re-development of the franchise with Andromeda and mark my words the new IP is also going to have a lack of this guy's expertise in IP/Setting establishment.

He essentially created the lore that drew people in which Andromeda clearly didn't manage to recreate for a new setting. He deserves that golden throne.

Yes he could've because the act of going away from MET's lore isn't what hurts Andromeda. What hurts Andromeda the most is that its attempt to reshape the IP is executed by repeating the same lore from ME1 under a different guise and with barely any detail. Before commenting more on the comparison to MEA I suggest you actually play it or you won't know what you're talking about.