Yeah, I’ve been on your side of arguments when it came to hardcore vs “carebear” changes in an MMO. But ultimately the right answer is what’s best for the game.
It’s hard to argue objectively without having the internal player metrics. If we had those, and there was no way to make everyone happy, we could easily say which side will have to suck it up.
I suspect the solo player is not uncommon because a lot of former hardcore types evolve (de-volve?) into solo players when life priorities step in.