The thought = if it doesn't have WoW's subscriber numbers, it's a failure.
The truth = 1) WoW was lightning in a bottle that will never happen again, at least in the MMO market as we know it, 2) people have WAY too much committed to their characters and guilds in WoW after nearly a decade to abandon them to anything but that next "lightning in a bottle" MMO that, as mentioned, won't happen, 3) this game has some problems that people like to exacerbate.