They're not really biting back at all, they're just giving a lot of excuses for things many people don't like, and their response generally boils down to, "we make the game so fuck you, do as we want you too".
It also seems as if they are quite stressed about all this when they do these things, (i'm not saying they are stressed, but they way they are acting it is easy perceived that way), I don't know why they are doing it now though, with an expansion just released.