I am out of here

[Brother Laz]

This is pure speculation, but I guess Bliz modeled WoW on EQ, and back before they knew for sure that WoW would be a runaway-locomotive hit, I think they were worried, in particular, about establishing their 'hardcore credentials", and courted the "elite" EQ guilds and designers, figuring the masses would follow, which may explain why they ended up making the game the way they did.

Actually, it appears that much of the original team left during development and they hired raid-addicted incompetents from EQ mega-guilds to replace them. This is apparently why it went down the crapper from about level 30-40 onwards.

The game was supposed to be like the early levels all the way until the end, but then the raiders took over and...