An impassioned plea from a WoW member, A lesson for FFXIV.

[Elamys]

The Activision-Blizzard merge happened in 2008. WoW was excellent for a long time after that. Whatever problems Blizzard has now, it's not Activision, and it's a little tiresome to see them be used as a scapegoat for every issue.

WoW's biggest problem right now is that they are not listening to their players. They've decided that they know what's fun for us, and that what's fun isn't the things we're asking for, so the things we're asking for won't be implemented. It's how we got a second-rate artifact grind in the form of Azerite when everyone already said they hated that. It's how they made boneheaded class design decisions like removing totems from shaman. It's why we still don't have any noteworthy content for people who don't raid or push PVP rating. It's why we don't have player housing or dyes or any number of things that players have been asking for for years. It's why the allied races have threadbare customization. This is a fairly new thing, and I doubt a merge with Activision that happened 10 years ago is causing it.

WoW is facing the same issue a number of other companies today are facing. They're not the only (literal) game in town anymore. They never really have been, sure, but what other MMOs have come even close to approaching WoW's scope and appeal? I feel like they've been so used to being on top that they've forgotten how to improve. They got so used to being what other MMOs aspired to be that they've failed to notice other MMOs are making changes that move them away from WoW and make them more appealing to others. The people who are playing MMOs today are not the same people who were playing MMOs in 2004.