So what will it take to save WoW?

The changes so far, yes. As for the other changes you’ve listed, pretty much all of them would cost them the bulk of their remaining subscribers. People have been pretty clear that altering in-game areas not named for the implicated devs is a bridge too far.

I for one will be cancelling my accounts after 17 years if any of the following things ever change:

Any of that goes and so do I.

I have chosen World of WarCraft over paying my rent on more than one occasion. If I’m drawing the line, lots of people will have drawn it before me. I imagine Blizzard knows better than to take it that far.

Time will tell, but Blizzard is staffed by smart people who understand that alienating your fan base with digital fascism is the quickest way to lose your product entirely. The shareholders can’t profit if all the whales leave to splash in fairer waters, and people like me who base our entire lives around WoW would not leave unless we felt truly victimized. That feeling doesn’t set in until areas we know and love are edited in the name of transient sensitivities. If you start changing what we’re nostalgic about, you erode our foundation, and we will drift away just like everyone else already has.