The role of fanbase and community feedback in a game’s future design

What used to be Blizzard's biggest strength and it seems biggest flaw at the same time?

LISTENING! Well, actually reading what players want or think... Leaving aside the theories about ACTIVISION and so on, this fact is most easily noticeable in World of Warcraft, that to this day and forever more (even tho I myself don't play it anymore), will deserve our utmost respect and will hold a special place in my heart for reasons varying from technical issues that it had to overcome, to depth and size of the fantasy world, to storyline (until cata :p) and well, to the fact that it still goes on after ALL these years.

My statement is of course open to debate, but I reached this conclusion by following the forum over time and on fastforward it looks something like this:

• Vanilla + patches too hard! too time consuming! too big! polish! polish! -> -> 

• TBC this is nice but we don't see end game cuz we play 2 hrs / day and we want the same progress as ppl playing 8 hrs a day -> ->

• WotLK To begin this I must send this quote that popped up in my head after reading the QQ about epix: a noob in epix is still a noob (...epic noob I guess ^^)! no big deal, BUT... most ppl know the talk about WotLK: QQ about returning to the roots, oooh vanill-vanilla -> BANG! -> 

• CATA ... old content renewed, the once epic journey through dungeons becomes hell fast as you try telling 3 ppl to stop hitting the sheep, or getting "CBA to use interrupts" as a response from the ppl in the party after wipeing on the first pack in the dungeon, followed by whine whine too hard , we want epix (hellooooo?O_o did all WotLK players quit? You said you want less epix!!!), DS nerf, DS LFR... 

Well, I'm no Blizz fanboy (fashionable term for anyone stating something positive about the company they worshiped before :p), but it is HARD to be a dev with fans that change their wishes more often than girls shopping for their wedding day :p. This is somewhat of a "it's not you, it's me" thing :">.

Remember attunement? :"> That was nice tbh...I even have the damn Mallet of Zul Farak that I obtained by corpse running and 2 manning it with a wlock friend! :)) (sap, blind, fear a whole strategy to get it! xD). Also, HC keys? You wouldn't know it sucks unless you had tasted another way.

So to follow this trend, but to keep it realistic, yes; something else went down with the game. 

At the same time it's only clear the fixing one thing can turn something else around (i.e. LFR-LFG = capital city camping, dead world, while going to summoning stones seems to have been old and no longer a good idea...). Blizzard must go back to it's own roots and at the same time start ignoring a part of it's community. Blizzard made legendary games and set entire trends and standards whenever it made one. 

Great products -> notoriety & fans -> community -> $.

Look! More hidden footprints! Awwww!!! It's a cute panda!!! ^^