[Jiggly]

When people talk about Classic, it's easy to tell how early in the series they quit.

I've played retail since Vanilla, so I had fun revisiting the game as it was in Classic. That said, there's something to be said for sticking with a game for 15+ years. People that only played Classic won't understand the history and development of the game. They will get to 60, do Onyxia/Ragnaros, and that's when the rose-tinted glasses will come off.

People needed new challenges after Vanilla and it's fair to say it will be the same with Classic. They could add Burning Crusade or Wrath of the Lich King, but the reality is that the cycle will repeat. There will always be expansions that players dislike, and some of those players will quit. I hated BFA, MoP, and WoD - I never quit.

I think the real issue with games splitting like this, is exactly what you mentioned above. Sure the nostalgia is nice, but the reality is, if people were happy with the game not moving on originally, then these games would have had no reason to develop in the directions they did. I honestly don't think you can say you "like" a game, if you don't enjoy the game in a developed state. That's the whole experience of these big MMORPGs - New content, stories, characters, quest lines, lore.

There's nothing wrong with enjoying spin-off throwbacks, but to say they're better? I just can't think of a single game where that's true. If the original or 10+ year old version was actually better, the current version of the game would never have survived as long as it has. We know this from all the games that have died out and not made it to the 10-15 year mark.

Agreed. Very rarely is a prior iteration of a product better than the reiteration (Fallout video games and the old Spider-Man movies are the only quick ones to come to mind). And usually when it happens it's because the people behind the original aren't behind the sequel and the new people don't understand what made the old great, or greed gets in the way. I get frustrated talking to nostalgic people because they refuse to take off the rose coloured glasses to see that what they're enjoying is a refreshing product, not a better one.

That's a great way to put it "refreshing product, not a better one". By no means is their enjoyment of those games any less valid, but to say those games are "better", I fail to see how that makes any logical sense.
I agree with everything you said. Also, the examples you provided are actually separate entities as well. They are sold as separate films/games, as opposed to being branches of the same game.