Actually I said between 8.5/9.5M
And the extensive reasons why, I posted above.
Also the 4 quarters earlier WOW hovered around 7.5 million. it is disillusional to start counting from the last 6.8 as 2 new MMO's were launched (5% influence) and some people wait to return for "new content" (another 5%). Just as if someone who played until March this year suddenly will NOT return to an evidently new WOW expansion...
As such: going from 7.5 M to 8.5 is very very very possible since WOW is still very much the REFERENCE in MMO play with everything else being quite redundant these days.
tldr: 8.5 M (+25%) is my lowest guess and 9.5 M is the highest estimate IF Blizzard plays it right AND the MMORPG play would "jump back" again.
The revival of the MMORPG industry will NEED to come from Blizzard anyway, so it might as well come from WOW than waiting another 5 years.
I once thought Destiny could fill in, but Destiny is a shooter (I played in beta) and will only appeal to the very crowded market for 16 year olds already. In fact Destiny could be the reason why I would sell my other 60% of ATVI stock before or just after its launch...
Something tells me WOD player numbers will be huge again. Too many TBC memories of too many ex players...