I did this a couple of times in WoW using the 2-seater rocket... took a fellow guildie over the Hoarde capitol city (we were Alliance) and dropped him off. He thought it was funny.
For a short while, she was listed as a team member on Mike O'Brien's new project https://www.mana.works/About.html but she's no longer mentioned on the website that I see.
Using Asmongold as a reference to back your arguments totally invalidates whatever point you were trying to make. That guy is an AH. Analytics are a valid measure of how many people are participating in the various content available.
Bring new players? I doubt it... HoT killed off a significant portion of the original player-base, and PoF was an effort to retain what was left. Whatever this new XP is gonna be (and I honestly hope it's something great), it's going to be a challenge to recover from previous losses.
Drakkar - a 40 minute world boss fight? Really? It's not a raid boss, it's a world boss... they are usually meant to fit into the other world boss rotations - 10-15 minute fight on most of them.
almost all of my mostly played toons are using skins acquired in game. Unlike WoW, which charges for each expansion AND a monthly sub fee, GW2 has no monthly sub fee. Anet needs a source of income to pay the bills, I'm fine with that.