What you stated makes 0 sense if they catered to the casual players which were the majority but the hard core left which was the minority then how is the the reason for the loss of half its players if they catered to the majority and not the vocal minority..
They just think they want it. Just check this board here. Their are very casual suggestions with many people supporting it that would not be a good thing for any game.

Yeah I realize that. I'm fine with being ignored if everyone else is to. Don't get me wrong though, I'm not saying player feedback is worthless, not at all. But a forum is not the appropriate place to collect it. It should be in game, with active players, via a feedback/survey system.
I think player input should be really minimum. Instead the dev team should contact a really good psychiatrist that tell them what people really want in the long run.