I don't believe everyone's claims that Marc is just pandering to the Tumblr kids. I think he likes Felicity as a character and this is the story he wants to tell now, whether or not people like it is another thing. But if he was... I wouldn't blame him. They tell him they love the show and make him fanart and whatnot. And if they're displeased they just say so. The other viewers I've seen live in a perpetual state of pessimism, Hell, on Twitter I've seen a few people calling him a piece of **** to his face for upping Felicity's screentime and ruining the character by making him too much like Batman.
Despite the fact that being like Batman is as close to the character's roots as you can get since those were the creators' intentions.
So being a ripoff is a good thing these days? Batman started off as a Zorro/Shadow/Phantom ripoff kinda,is he anything like that now? this is just a lame excuse that Arrow supporters keep coming up with.GA moved away from being a Batman clone a long time ago,he was a Batman copy when writers didn't take him seriously. There's been plenty of great GA stories over the years by Dennis O'Neal,Chuck Dixon,Judd Winick,Mike Grell,Jeff Lemire,Andy Diggle etc. Arrow has failed dismally when it comes to giving GA the respect he deserves, his rogues gallery is incredibly limited as it is but they ruined the few good villains he does have like Count Vertigo,Drakon,Komodo and Brick was wasted. They're either ashamed or not interested in doing a Green Arrow story, GA "roots" as a Batman clone are only used for satirical reasons,last I checked this wasn't a comedy show.