the entire 'we deleted it' excuse is pretty offensive. It pretty much asks the flock to believe they allow a single non-archived copy of the game to be updated with no storage process. Basically, blizzard is just like us, lazy on back-ups. I guess this way we can all sympathize 'oops they deleted it.' Right, they are gonna let their people accidently delete raid boss scripting too I guess, cuz they forgot to back-up. 'oops we deleted it sorry.'
To me, the entire eotb thing is emblematic of blizzards internal war on fun, (or FUN vs. fun, if you like). If your fun isn't within their parameters, it isn't FUN.
(one way to know is if your fun doesn't contribute to a participation/completion metric, it isn't FUN.)
upon reflection, I note that a lot of this increasing blizzard effort to channel player activity/interests into designated activites began with cataclysm. I ask myself if the underlying cause of this (and removal of random abilities like eotb, though I consider this tangential, part of an effort to eliminate/consolidate non-necessary abilities) came from an overriding interest in manipulating player behavior in order to actually improve participation/completion in various game segments in order to help internal groups at blizzard meet metrics for bonuses, etc. I noticed with cat. blizzard seemed to be actively deciding the 'right' way to play, and this would tend to make sense in terms of motivation - someones' bonuses were at stake.
If you go from the assumption that increasing completion rates of various activites is an ends in itself, it begins to explain a lot of otherwise inexplicable nerfs - getting older reputations up to exalted, various ach. req's being neutered, etc.