That’s why on release expect people to be doing money transfers (trust trades) it happened in OSRS and still happens because they didn’t give a damn.
As for some examples I’ll give some where they abused the polling system
Herbs: It used to be seen as unidentified until you got the level needed to clean them which would show what you had. This failed when suggested to be switched to the modern system which showed what you had but would be grimy meaning they still had to be cleaned. They repolled it and now it’s in the game forever.
Artisan skill: Repolled multiple times
Grand Exchange: Every aspect of it was polled and it failed. They then suggested a compromise with the obvious RS3 crowd who were used to it a trading post which would be a spot to put up offers, but would have to still meet up and could negotiate with the other player on the price. It came out and it wasn’t what was polled it was missing features that passed and it was terrible. Then they decided lets poll Grand Exchange a week later and now it’s in the game so GF player to player trading it died that day.
I can give more, but let’s talk about the edited part you added there which was that it could be used to gauge community interest as opposed to straight up being the be all end all.
I’m going to list the negative to that which is that this would require that you actually looked at who voted and how much they actually play because somebody who maybe spent an hour one week would have the same input as somebody who plays full time which is where you get the retail players messing with your votes. We all know Blizzard isn’t going to put in that level of work.
The positive I can actually back up with an event that happened in OSRS which almost led to the death of the game. It was an update called Nightmare Zone it was suggested to be a minigame where you could refight quest bosses. They added that it wasn’t going to be the best way to make experience. It seemed innocent enough and it passed. Release day the magic skill has been #@^&ed because you could exploit it to get free runes (what we need to cast magic) and get the best experience rate possible with profit I might add. It didn’t end there it also turned out that with a certain set of armour in the game and average stats players could stay there for 6 hours (that is when the game kicks you off automatically) and get experience and money without even being there. You could fall asleep and be getting experience and money. People shot up to the max levels quick and when they did the few bosses we had they started to leave resulting in a massive drop which almost killed the game. To top it off they polled whether the 6 hour AFKing should stay and over 50% voted yes. You can not trust players to vote in the games best interest they are only in it for themselves even when it was destroying the game. After seeing this I daresay the second option of it being used to gauge interest is better than just using it as a be all end all because of this.