Part of the problem is that MMO's are simply pretty mediocre games. Lets be honest, they lose in almost every respect vs single player video games. Their ONE redeeming quality is that they have no equal when it comes to social gaming. The level of drama, competition and cooperation you get in a living world still kicks all other online platforms asses--you just can't get those social features in a BF3 match, or on Xbox live.
Knowing that, it always boggles my mind why every new system put into MMO's always emphasizes the GAME and not the people/World. I mean, I think Blizzard is starting to realize this, hence all their facebook shit. The problem is they take it all out of the world--real names, email addresses (Over characters), ect..By making your social interaction into facebook light, you're still emphasizing the fact that the game you met on is *just a game* and if we look at it as a game, all we see is a shitty version of a single player game.
Now, I'm not saying everything which pushes people toward thegamingaspects of an MMO are bad, but they whole shift toward showing off dungeons and short, McDonald instances has gone too far in one direction. We need a balance of things....Becuase MMO's are just not good enough in terms of gaming to highlight just the game and not the people. If they keep going down that path of "DO DUNGEON OR DAILY GET REWARD INSTANTLY", they will continue this "burn content and move on" mentality, because again, lets face it--your expansion has like a month of actual "game" content to it. They really need to focus on systems that get people to rely on each other and build stable bonds *within the game world*. That doesn't mean forced grouping, or anything draconian but there should be things that push people against each other and in general, yes, even piss them off--it's those emotions which invest people. The more sterile they make these worlds, the less shine they have, because the underlying game is just so weak.
Anyway...All I know is racing through BWL to complete the Torch BEFORE a rival guild could, just to open the fucked AQ gates, was more exciting than even the first time we killed Nag. And I *still*, even years later, get whispered in game about how exciting AQ was by people who never raided--just the whole ritual of he server being part of something was exciting (Even if it was a HUGE cluster fuck and everyone was pissed off). Social experiences are dying in MMO's, and it's a shame--because despite the whines, they are the heart of these games.