Combined, the tweaking of some things and not others becomes a necessary trap. If the owners of the game do not tweak, players feel they are being ignored. If they do, someone is always bound to be unhappy. And they will all tell you it's entirely unavoidable. Otherwise, the game will die.
Matters are further complicated because the players feel an emotional bond to the game.
They spend hours and hours playing, building up their characters, working on relationships and acquiring the necessary armor and equipment to become ever stronger. When unpopular changes occur, players will complain, attempt to hack the game when angry, and even cause disruptions such a spamming channels to express their anger at some change. We do this for free as volunteers, and what we say, goes. We own this place. Weak That's what Verant is finding out.