Here's what I wrote before it was deleted:
You are right that only a minority of people raid. Raiders constitute only a small part of the population, but the game was built on raiding for years and it worked.
Why? Because it gave people somewhere to aim. It made people aim higher. They either improved or didn't make progress. People had to work together to see the game. Now they it's a movie that anyone can see for free. It's a rollercoaster ride that doesn't require much effort (I won't say it won't require any effort because that's not strictly true).
A good community is one with people who know each other so that people get to know each other, and one where people are accountable for their actions. In vanilla/TBC if a player was a hateful person who abused others no one would group up with them. Everyone knew who they were. There were no cross realm dungeons; you had to play with the people on your server. It forced people to behave and they changed because of it, because they started to care about the people around them. Of course, not everyone was perfect, but that was the general culture. The game was built on a different and more solid foundation.
That's gone. Now no one knows each other so no one cares about anyone but themselves. Human beings are habit forming creatures and sooner or later you will become used to your environment.
World of Warcraft isn't really a world anymore. It's no longer a second life. It's just a game.
