[RPG] Is VtM 5e supposed to be compatible with old or new World of Darkness games

Looking to the most recent version of the Vampire: The Masquerade rules (the 20th Anniversary edition), here's what's said about the way that the Monster nature regains Willpower:

Malignant deeds reinforce the Monster’s sense of purpose. Monster characters should pick a specific atrocity, regaining Willpower whenever they indulge that urge. For example, a tempter regains Willpower for luring someone into wickedness, while an apostate earns back Willpower for causing another to doubt her faith. Pick a destiny and fulfill it. Storytellers, be careful with how you reward this Archetype. For example, a player who chooses violence as an atrocity shouldn’t recoup Willpower in every combat, but perhaps only in those that involve wanton destruction, or even cause degeneration checks due to their gruesomeness. Monster is a difficult Archetype for which to offer rewards, and those rewards should come as a result of the character challenging his own descent into the Beast, not rampaging ungovernably because he gains an ever-refreshing pool of bonus dice. (V20, pp.92-3)

It looks like this is a known issue, and there are some ideas for keeping it under check. In particular, the idea that the Monster must put his Humanity (or Path) at risk to regain Willpower from his deeds is one that I've put into practice in other forms, with some success.

As for the general regaining of Willpower, page 267 tells us

Generally, a character’s Willpower pool may be replenished whenever the character fulfills a goal or has an opportunity to restore her self-confidence. Ultimately, specific instances of Willpower restoration are up to the Storyteller. For this reason, Storytellers are advised to be prudent in allowing characters to regain Willpower; it is a powerful and versatile Trait, and permitting players to rely on it too much strips much of the challenge from a story.

It seems the limit on gaining Willpower back is the discretion of the Storyteller. Good luck.

In first edition Mage, vampires fell entirely under the sphere of Matter, and changing the shape of matter was available at fairly low levels. (This was referenced in Book of Shadows, the Player's Guide to Mage, in a subhead: "Turning Vampires into Lawn Chairs and Other Works of 'High' Magick" -- although it wasn't a rote.) The notion that a starting mage could, with a wave of his hand/wand/athame, completely destroy a vampire — who, at the time, had no way to defend against it – was variously seen as a sign of how Mage was a broken system or that Vampire players were whiny gits.

As for how the meme got started, as with many things in the 1990s, it started on Usenet. In 1994, in a thread on alt.games.whitewolf, ironically, about how Wraith wasn't a sales hit (compared to games like Vampire), a poster named Jack Dracula wrote, in defense of Mage:

But this is also one of the best features. No D&D spell lists, this inspires creativity and role-playing, rewarding creative gamers for their quick thinking. What that does unfortunately do is attract powergamers who want to turn vampires into lawn furniture, but they are just as quickly turned away by either ST Balance ("The Nephandi turned -me- into a lawn chair?!") or the lack of Power-Gamer Reward (No new level to get, no dragon hoard to plunder, no next level of the dungeon.)

In Second Edition and beyond, this was changed so that Vampires required both Life and Matter, but the notion of mages dispensing with vampires easily by transforming them into patio furniture persisted thereafter. (Werewolves always required Life, and in later editions Spirit, so I don't know what the players were thinking in that regard. Still, as part of the question, it gets an answer.)

How did it spread so fast? At the time, a lot of the people who wrote and worked for White Wolf hung out with posters on a.g.ww and on various online game sites like the Storyteller Circle MUSH. Jack Dracula was a frequent inhabitant of both places, and it gained currency just like the "whiskey flask" problem with Paradox. It was an inside joke that grew, and that's why people still reference it two decades later.