Rogue, you make valid points about the dichotomy between what casuals want and what hardcore raiders want. I, personally, don't understand the drive for player housing. What is it going to net me? I would really like a guild bulletin board feature where the Message of the Day that gets easily swept aside by whatever message Blizzard chooses to post, would be available, as well as general guild notices. I want bigger bags and the long promised wardrobe where pack rats like me could store tabards and the extra gear sets we covet. Appealing to a hardcore raider, probably not so much but to a casual, oh yeah.

We all know WOW can't be exactly what each player wants and there has to be a point at which each patch ends with dreams unfulfilled. I think it's fair to say that there is a wide swath of people, hardcore and casual, who are leaving because the game is not what they started playing X years ago. Has the game reached critical mass? Maybe not yet, but that point certainly seems closer now than it did a year ago.