Which they shouldn’t have done, should simply have been a copy and paste and boom you have a Classic Era and TBC Era servers. The result would still have been the same with the vast majority of people going to TBC.
The mismanagement was not merging servers sooner after the player base settled. If they had the server tech they do now they likely would have launched Classic 2019 with 1 PvE realm for NA.
Not many, there were a few holdouts but was dead until Ulduar in WotLK when people came back. That’s why they want a single mega server for each type (and the obligatory OCE realm).
Because they were limited by the server tech they had at the time. Not anymore.
I mean outside of your epic mount and consumes gold doesn’t really matter in Classic after you hit that point.
A turtle did not make it to the water. The cycle of life can be cruel.