"Back during the first years of the game, commitment, friendship and determination were the dominating themes, but as it developed, things started changing rapidly and old school players started feeling disconnected from what they used to enjoy. Things became too easy and little by little social interaction merely became a choice. With the arrival of the automatic 'Looking for Group/raid' tool, all a player had to do in order to achieve better gear, achievements, levels and such was to click a button. Back in the day you would have to interact personally with each player to find what you were searching for in order to set up a successful group. Due to the 'enclosed' community of your server, you would automatically start befriending people you crossed paths with, whether it was through PVE or PVP. In the picture you get a feeling of how the game has changed from a place of group effort and friendship to a community that is more focused on the individual user." - Bonewrench
I cannot take credit for this, saw it on reddit and it said what I think anyone that has played this game this long has thought for some time.
Link to the picture referenced http://i.imgur.com/sPLBsw3.jpg?1