The introduction of faster leveling has NOTHING to do with sub drops. Terrible end game content, terrible class balancing, and the ever changing MMO crowd is what caused the sub numbers to drop. The majority of posts in this thread are people disagreeing with removing heirlooms. To say that making leveling faster has taken meaning out of the game is so incredibly self-centered. How does how SOMEONE ELSE playing the game a different way affect YOU? Nothing is stopping you from leveling without heirlooms. Literally nothing. But people like you would rather heirlooms be removed so people are forced to play the game the way YOU want the game to be played.
I have a newsflash for you. Forcing players to play an MMO a certain way will destroy the game. MMOs are meant to be played however you want to play it. It's not a single player game with a linear path. Forcing players into leveling a certain way this late into WoW's lifespan would be positively disastrous. But I guess people like you would rather see the game crash and burn if it means the game conforms to how you think it should be played.