I have played WoW since launch, and I strongly disagree with most of your points! All this is, in my opinion, a bunch of bullpoop Unless you come from the most craptastic server in WoW, the community was actually a whole lot better back in vanilla/tbc days. These days you hardly know people on your own server, or even in your own guild! Back in "the good old days" you were forced to actively look for people to join your group, and the pool was naturally restricted to your own server. This did make the server and guild communities a whole lot stronger then they are today. As for your point about "if you dont like it, dont use it"; people are lazy and instances have become complete facerolls! If you had timewarped the LFG-tool straight into vanilla, people would not have been that eager to use it. Why? Because instances were actually a challenge back then. If you grouped with people who did not use CC and could follow a simple attack order, you would fail. People used to learn their characters in these groups. Unlike today, when if you utterly suck at your class you can just queue again and somewhere down the line someone will carry you through, people had invested time in getting you there, and were unwilling to just boot you. So they gave you tips and directions to get you on par. So, even if I would rather prefer grouping with guildmates or even people from my own server, there is no real possible negative consequense for using the LFG-tool... There is no real fear of it all going straight to the fiery pits of wipe-hell. So I use it to gear and cap valor points fast. The first incarnation of the LFG-tool was as far as it should have gone. A simple flagging yourself that you are available. No random, cross-server insta-porting tool of community and player skill destruction. This affects a multitude of aspects in a MMORPG. Remember how people used to feel a real connection to their spec in WoW? How people were known by their specs, as an appendix to their name? In TBC I was known as XXXXXXXX "the CC hunter". With my dedicated survival spec I could CC like headlights to a deer, or several. Every day I got lots of requests for grouping because of this. People knew that if they brought this player they got good CC. A LFG-tool, paired with dual-specs, will remove any possibility of such a strong character-building! In addition, the respec-cost in WoW is completely redicolous when considering the inflation of gold. There is no setback at all when doing a respec. As of today you have players who have tankspecs to LFG, only to swap when grouped, run headfirst into the first pack of mobs, and unless the healer is stupid enough to actually stay and spam-heal, wipe the group. Likewise, you have players with healing specs to lfg, only to swap when grouped, hoping to force any other heal-capable player to take over. If you are going that have a game where the community and social connections are a goal in itself (like any MMORPG should have), any shortcuts that detract from the process of socializing will hurt this goal. No? The state of WoW these days is that of a loot-pinata, with the occasional annoying random influence of other real people... I can agree to this on certain terms. First of all: the combat log should be Mob to player only. Why, you say? With properly designed encounters there is no need for dps-meters or an outward combat log. Focusing on execution rather then "pound this thing hard for 5 mins before it goes mental" pretty much eliminates the need. Have group wipers that focuses on awereness rather then dps requirements. The danger of implementing too much access to data is the curve one has seen in WoW. Early on the challenge was getting 40 people to execute something properly. Because of the extreme access to game data, the development demand has become much higher. HC raid bosses now have to provide challenges to tanking, healing, dps and at the same time a high level of coordination and execution. Now this is a good idea, especially considering the setting of the game. But for the love of all that is good in this world, do not make any insta-port-all-group-members-inside feature. Someone should have to travel to the place for someone else being transported there. I can agree to a certain extent, as I have been a fond user of addons in WoW. However; this also relates to my point about the combat log. Tools that make content easier will affect future content. What I would like to see here is built-in features, no addon-fest like WoW currently is. No DBM or BigWigs, no POWA that can tell you pretty much anything, no AH tools that pretty much automates buying and selling enormous amounts of items. Keep the game simple but streamlined, and most people who actually play for fun will be kept happy. Waiting can actually be quite fun, if you can stomach actually figuring out something to do on your own... Like socializing, crafting, exploring, etc... I certainly enjoyed more aspects of the game in the earlier stages of WoW. Since WotLK I have hardly moved my character outside the capitol cities, because there is no need to. And the reason for WoW still being the number 1 MMORPG is hardly quality. WoW was the first mainstream MMO, and it attracted a huge new playerbase. For most people, swapping to another MMO is too much of a hassle. They might try LOTRO or AoC, but the transition is too much work, so they shuffle back to WoW. Both those games have qualities that WoW is nowhere near. WoW's qualities all spring from two things: a huge playerbase (equals huge income, equals huge development team) and content based on lazyness. These two have an isane synergy, in that the huge playerbase (that keep the cash flowing) is kept ingame by easy access to everything (yet nothing is really rewarding). You obviously want a WoW in space. I would rather see SWTOR burn subscriptions and end up as a free-to-play then it going the way of the Wall-Mart of MMO's... Leave your longing for WoW at the login, or pick up WoW again. We do not need a insta-porting, leet-infested, head-against-keyboard clone...