Was there a need to increase character levels?

he problem I felt (in retrospect) after the burning crusade, that level 60 should have been max level and stayed max level.  It took us all an age to get to level 60, yes, and when we got there it was an all other level of achievement to gear up ready for raiding. Just my own thoughts, you might disagree?  But I felt that gear should have then been the focus of levelling up.  Think about it now, and how irrelevant past content now is? great continents abandoned, Shattrath a once booming city now empty like its hit some financial crash..

There was something "special" about end-game and seeing end-game gear on your servers top guilds.  It's not a bad thing to have something to either strive or wish for, (is the world more driven to this entitled achievement like attitude to games?) I know I would never have achieved a 40 man raid group in Molten Core, or Naxx. Those achievements where just out of my reach, so I knew and accepted I would end up with Dire Maul's, Scholomance and dungeon gear etc.  And there ..that right there is a golden gap that could and should, be fattened up!

The main problems I had in Vanilla, was gold; being able to afford to level up my professions, make some money for repairs, and that would have increased my enjoyment of the game.  And expansion's could have resolved that with the increase of more quest lines, rewards and lore while still rewarding...and here's the word I was trying to figure out earlier ..... gratification. What I was wearing, I was grateful for, what I had achieved (no matter how small in comparison), I was grateful for.

rateful, that's what missing for me from the current live version.  Maybe i'm a different kind of game player, I like to struggle.  I like helping out folk that are also struggling, forming relationships with other players, and here's another thing, WTF is that "itch" we call get wanting us to "pop back?"  we think its the game, we think its the content, gear etc etc.  But for me, its really down the community of players you surround yourself with in-game, and the other players you interact with that hooks you.  Have a think about that for a moment....

(ok.. moments gone)..

Every other game (MMO) I have started to play, doesn't have the same feel or environment I want to stay in for long, it looses it's initial appeal of wonder and im looking for some substance, meat to get into.  You know like a heavy bass beat of a drum/bass from a good song (now am I talking s**t?)

Elysium goes live on Saturday, so from here, I will try and catalogue the journey back into the old warcraft. And let you know how I get on...cheers