Greentext

That, and nobody had documented how everything worked yet. And, there wasn't a good way to communicate outside the game. And there was no group finder, etc. so the only way to work together was to chat.

In-game chat was essential to playing the game. It was essential to understanding the game. And it was somewhat self-policing, because if you got a bad reputation on your realm from chat, it would be harder to find groups.

These days most chat happens outside the game. Nobody chats in-game to understand the game. Nobody needs the community features of the game to do quests, group content, even raids. Realms are meaningless because most content is cross-realm, so you can't get a bad reputation if you're an asshole because you never see the same people again.

I don't think there's a way to go back to 2004. But, it still seems like Blizzard shot themselves in the foot multiple times when it comes to community features.

Also, I think this undersells how good the game looked.

Yes, you were hunting boar livers but you were doing it in this beautiful tropical jungle beside a giant waterfall. And then you'd peak behind the waterfall, discover a mermaid who was at the gate of a giant dungeon themed like a water park. And you completely forgot about the quest to go play in the water park for a couple of hours.

I'd say the bigger problem with WoW was the gradient of zones. You'd be hunting zebra-taurs on the high planes. And then you'd walk through a mountain pass, see a dinosaur, get all excited, and aggro a creature +30 your level.