The part that gets me is SE's idea that it is good practice to remove game access for MOST people in order to provide a full game experience for SOME. If given the choice, I'm sure MOST people here would prefer to be able to log in period and just not have access to SOME game features.

Sure, people would still complain they couldn't do everything they wanted, but at least they'd have the option to wonder around the game and maybe find something entertaining to do while they wait, maybe even something they might not have otherwise tried and it turned out to be awesome. Even running circles around Ul'Dah would be better than playing a failing login lotto that will only make customers progressively more upset.