My bank was never emptier than this.
Considering it fulfills its promises. And in any case, such improvement could never be regarded as the panacea that might bring back millions of players.
Blizzard is not oblivious of the fact that its game is senescent, that it is sliding on a downward slope. Still, despite all the failures and the natural propensity of players to look for greener pastures, or just become bored, WoW is viable for Blizzard in that they can test the grounds for their newest project, determine what works and what doesn't with figures instead of relying on what gamers claim. It is not always safe to deliver what gamers say that they want, as Blizzard realized with Cataclysm's a la BC instances that the players demanded, when the game was in a state that it could no longer accommodate such model.
Back to Pandaria, Blizzard intends to reclaim the world-feel of Azeroth pre-Cataclysm (and arguably pre-Wrath). The company is taking moderate steps towards this, as no great cataclysmic event is planned. What we will have is: pet combat, challenge modes, scenarios (nothing yet on the official page), and some treats like a farm for you to cultivate. I encourage you to read the optimistic analysis of Apple Cider Mage for more links and more info on features that are still obscure, like the farming bit.
None of these features is world-changing on its own, but they speak nonetheless of a profound change in mentality from Blizzard's part. They are now aligning with the sandbox petitioners and those who miss the *World* of Warcraft, instead of focusing on the much-repeated pattern of raid-driven content. This time, the final boss of the expansion has not been introduced until recently, diverting the focal point of the expansion towards its new zones and features, towards new experiences instead of new goals. Some interviews have been quoted since its announcement some months ago, which claimed that Blizzard wished to reintroduce the world feel to WoW, by means of uninstanced content and world bosses. I also believe that all the features which will be implemented can support such concept by redirecting the players from a goal-driven mindset to a more open and world-friendly attitude.
Going back to the World would be one of the best decisions that Blizzard could make. They already impoverished their world as a result, or rather a by-product, of their late-Wrath inclusive attitude. By removing every barrier (keys, attunements, reputations, quests that involved these), old content could be experienced by people who would have not invested the time that was required to access it, trivializing what had been an epic adventure. Instead of removing those entirely, they could have achieved something similar by reducing some numeric requirements. They also homogenized the way professions were leveled and how players acquired recipes; how classes differed from each other (by removing their unique attributes or equating them to another's), etc. But classes are only peripherically related to this discussion. My point is: Blizzard has been stripping its own game of many features that made it unique, and which allowed the players to feel unique and contrast themselves to other players and to the world and its potentialities. The post-BC player is lead by the system of hubbed quests, daily-grinded professions, solo grouping and even solo raiding since a couple of patches. Currently, there is no indication for the new player that they can go off the grid and enjoy the sandbox element of every MMO. The problem is that WoW has removed most of it.
One of the reasons some people quit the game was because of this lack of world-feel to it. Along the years, I had collected a number of items (keys, rare objects, cosmetic pieces for every social occasion, PVE sets); some of them disappeared, some had no more use when the quest was removed, etc. They marked my journey and the different decisions I took regarding where I would quest, what I would collect, what roleplaying I did. I didn't feel the urge to claim those world-pieces when I started a new character post-Cataclysm; there was not much to cling to.
Another reason why the world felt devoid of its magic was the removal of the ground paths that flying imposed. I comment on it because it is related to the loss of the World sense, although I am aware that none is being done to address it. When Blizzard announced that in Cataclysm we would be able to view Azeroth from above, I was horrified. It meant that there weren't be special spots that were reached by conscientious explorers, that I couldn't share those spots with enraptured friends anymore. And sometimes with GMs when I got stuck someplace I wasn't supposed to be.
For Tobold (or his wife), it was the non-linear approach to stories that prevailed before Cataclysm, and its well-paced development. Its acceleration and straightforwardness has damaged the experience of questing for those who viewed it as the goal, not the path towards it.
Those things account for a world: unique paths, items that recount stories, recipes interred in forlorn dungeons... And the lore of Warcraft since 1994 (Warcraft I), which has come a long way.
With Pandaria, Blizzard attempts to recover the freshness of the world they created, and also see what could spark the second advent of the MMO industry with Titan. If pandas, pokemon and farmville were not proof enough that Blizzard is testing the waters, going off the grid, then I don't know what is.
