One thing that does not get brought up much in talking about WoW's business model is that the sub fee has not changed since launch. It has always been $15 dollars. (with some scaling due to buy more save more pricing)
A question I have is would you, and by extension enough people, be willing to pay $21 dollars today to steer the business model back towards the path it was in the years of launch, less cash shop items and less token sale driving efforts in game...hypothetically allowing those efforts to go back into outright game development. Hard to say the direct impact that it would have on actual gameplay, but presumably it would change the in-game economics and some of the motivators and world design/development due to no longer having the cash shop and freeing up a small team of devs to go back to actual game rewards/quests/things.
$21 dollars is, rounding up, the value of 2004 $15 today.
One thing I do not think many who complain about cash shop items consider is that they are taking in the same sub money, but the production costs have skyrocketed during the years due to many factors, not to mention the overall sub level has dropped considerably - with momentary spikes up again. The cash shop is part of what has kept that fee at $15.
Thoughts.