Ok I started playing WoW in mid 2006, and even earlier than that in 2005, I still remember being at my friends seeing them and remember them having very frustrating times (and I would think dang it would be cool to try this game, it just seems so challenging)when they just couldn't succeed in a raid group or dungeon because of the group being disorganized by just 1 or 2 members of the raid were not sure what they were doing, or were just messing around or just a matter of not having the right number of a certain class. And there were also many times I would see one of them raise the roof from execitment because they had actually succeeded in beating that certain part of the game. This is before I even had any interest in WoW (Or PC games in general).
Then when I started playing it was a few months into the BC error and I remember it took me about 5 to 6 months just to get to level 60,then like another month or 2 to get to 70, and I won't lie there were ALOT annoying and frustrating times when I would get upset because things just did not go my way, and I just could not get a certain quest or dungeon /raid, or a drop either because it not dropping or somebody else outrolling me on it.
Anyway to the point I am trying to make, the game is just much less execiting and appealing to me and I personally know several people that feel the same. Its the lack of a good challenge when you would need to grind for weeks or even months on in to acheive something you want, I know some people will disagree but thats the kind of thing we like, the feeling of being unique compared to most, the challenge that made it so fun, and thinking "WoW I actually just acheived something that most other people never could" The fun of trying to put a 40 man raid together to raid a world boss like the dragon in Ashenvale or Duskwood, or even a 20 man raid to do AQ 20 and actually being able to complete it even with most of our raid being level 70, it was still super challenging and if somebody didn't know a part of the mechanics it would wipe us. Now you see somebody could just get a tank with some sort of common sense and decent gear to come in and pull half of a dungeon and win.
Now I ask what makes this any different than somebody paying a powerleveling or gold farming website to level for them or get some extra easy cash in game? I am not trying to put you guys in the spolight or anything Blizzard, but when people start whinning then you guys lower the standards of a raid or boss and it rips away the challenge for ALOT of other people.
Now I know Lich King is over, but I have seen several great guilds that used to be on my server that disbanded from lack of good challenges (Tempora Heroica, Kane Mutiny just to name a couple) and didn't have to put much effort into an encounter, so there was no point in keeping the guild together if any average joe could go in and acheive the same thing without much effort, same goes for epics.
This is all coming from a casual player myself, just speculating and thinking of the times I used to have in game and why I even started playing the game, Its just sickening watching it happen like this over the years, anybody else can feel free to comment or post your feelings on the matter too if I get enough good replies I will take this thread to WoW forums with a few friends of mine, thanks for your time and hopefully Blizzard will see this and figure out why people are flaking off their subscriptions, and try to change it.