Originally Posted by
Lightwysh
Hardcores destroyed wow with their pre-cata crying.
Three significant things caused mass uproar in the true majority of players.
1. The clusterfuck that was the early cata heroics. After wow's peak in wotlk with easy mode heroics the absurd jump to the cata difficulty pit a lot of people off.
2. The changes to healing, though needed drove off a lot of people who loved that aspect of the game.
3. The gating of vp gear in MoP, I personally know quite a few people who quit or refused to resub due this.
Extra credit answer: the game is aging, the player base is aging, there are not a lot of new young players buying and sticking with wow.