Let's take a look at the three main players during the development of WoW. ALL 3 of these geniuses no longer work on WoW and now focus all their efforts on the new upcoming unannounced mmo "Titan". No wonder WoW has been going down the drain since after BC...
Rob Pardo
"He was Guild Master of the EverQuest guild Legacy of Steel, which accomplished many world-firsts. He met friend and now coworker Tigole (Jeffrey Kaplan) during his time in Legacy of Steel. Tigole would go on to replace him as guild leader and was eventually offered a position as designer alongside Rob."
Jeffrey Kaplan
"Jeff was hired by Blizzard because of his status as Tigole, guild leader for Legacy of Steel on The Nameless server of EverQuest. The guild had many world-first raid kills, and is attributed to helping shape Everquest and the MMO genre in general towards extreme emphasis on endgame content. The guild was formerly run by Rob Pardo, a long-time Blizzard employee and developer on Diablo II and Warcraft III."
Alex Afrasiabi
"Alex was once leader of a famous Everquest guild named Fires of Heaven (now a World of Warcraft guild). His first character in EQ, Kalaran, a rogue, was the first level 50 in EQ. Alex is supposedly still an avid player and guild leader in World of Warcraft."
Interesting to see how all three of these guys were the best of the best back in the Everquest days...