LOL online and hdd isn't why the system failed. Look at all the people complaining about how the PS4 has a small HDDs because of all the game installs. IMHO that was the best thing Nintendo did, allow for an external hdd to be used. I WISH Sony would do the same instead of me having to upgrade my internal. Only negative I have with Wii U an external is that they went cheap on USB ports and used USB2.0 which cannot powerup USB3.0 portable HDDs and need a Y cable.
System failed cause it has no fricken variety of games to capture a wider audience of gamer who want to play Nintendo games but they also need those extras to justify the console purchase. This is the big problem. NX can have all the bells and whistles but without games it is useless as tits on a bull.
Also there is nothing that could have been done to fix the Wii U, the design was already finalised and in production. Comparing the Wii U failure to the Microsoft backlash about DRM is moot as that was basically a software change that would have taken 10 minutes to implement.. Wii U was on a path to failure that couldn't be reversed.
