Well that's the wrong mindset time =l. I think most staff fail to realize this caught up in power/rights. What is a game without players? Without players why would era continue making new content? You're essentially saying; "We're are going to improve on so to try and improve the player count" yet you don't want to consider anything the players want. Their you're key to success =P.
Sooner or later players will start to rebel and sooner or later they will stop playing because they have no say in making there experience better. I think people like Zao fail to realize this because they've been in power so long. I don't even think zao knows what it feels like to be a 'player' any more...