Rant on WOTLK

I went on a negative rant about World of Warcraft since the Wrath of the Lich King expansion about a month ago. Since then I have kept playing and got 1 character to level 80. But I think there's still some valid stuff in that rant I went on and so I cut and pasted it over from my myspace page: (p.s. yeah I know since I kept playing that it's hypocritical)

The Wrath of the Lich King expansion has been out now for almost 2 months and there have been a lot of changes between World of Warcraft and myself. First of all, the veil has been partly lifted in my subconscious regarding the suspension of disbelief connected to this game. In other words, it doesn't feel real or meaningful lately. This has to do with the fact that it is a very materalistic game. How can that be possible, you ask, since none of it is real? Let me explain. The game is good for your ego because you can better your character by advancing in levels and equipment. You can attain a status that often you cannot obtain in real life. Your work in the game easily translates into rewards. And if you feel the need to prop up your ego even more by obtaining superior equipment and money than your peers, you can put in the extra time and do that. I'm not saying it's wrong or right, that's just the way it is, much like real life, but the playing field is more even. You can sense this Darwinistic feeding frenzy by the vigorous manner that players attack the new content, not taking it in slowly and enjoying it, but rushing through it like mad in order to reach the highest level and get the best equipment, so they can enjoy their status once again.With the release of the expansion, the level cap has been raised to 80. Thus, players' current status is meaningless but they can move up again and get more levels and equipment. Basically, players can chase a carrot again to re-gain a status they already had. OK, fair enough. People need a reason to keep playing and Blizzard needs them to keep playing to make more money. Furthermore, other things are being given away for free or easier to obtain than when old-time players like myself advanced through the game. Already Blizzard had made it easier and quicker to progress through the original game. Then they let players get mounts such as horses at level 30 instead of level 40 when I played. Now recently, they made it easier to advance from level 60 to 70. A lot of the player-craftable items(mostly level 70 items) now are obsolete because it is far easier to obtain them from the new areas than create them, and they're better anyways.I understand why all these things happened, and I don't believe in crying over spilled milk. There's nothing anybody can do about it. However, I have not felt like playing. This whole thing has made me realize how shallow the game is on many levels. The game is not real, and furthermore, achievements in the game are temporary. They will be made trivial by future content, and let's face it; the game itself will become antiquated at some point, and the any meaning that anything we have obtained or accomplished in this game will only exist in our memories. I used to really look forward to logging on and progressing, whether it be in levels, equipment, or money. Lately, it feels like my time would be better spent elsewhere. And maybe a dose of reality is not such a bad thing.