Never Make Your Players Have to "Find the Fun"

[hobostew]

Or maybe the genre itself isn't as compelling as it once was.

Given the OPs complaint and the general support it's getting I'm pretty sure most of these people wouldn't touch MMOs with a ten foot pole if it ever went back to its niche roots. MMOs of old were even grindier(in fact the grind was 90% of the "compelling" gameplay) and you could do almost nothing without a group.

Mind you I'd argue that since the audience of MMOs of old was so small that it couldn't have been that compelling to the vast majority of people. They were niche games for a reason.