I totally agree with both your statements... I was going to cry "RetCon WoW yet again?!". Often I find it irritating... it's kind of like saying a horse drawn wagon could never have existed without the the wagon.

I have made this very same observation and have begun exploring the idea of "necessary complexity" and "entertaining high complexity" in UI and game development, especially in relationship to character progression and the concept of classes. i am coming to the comclusion "classes" are to simplistic in copmparison tothe actual desire of many MMORPG players.