One thing I wonder is whether this includes the "marketers" for gold farmers ...

I don't know how big of a problem it is anymore, but at one point in time there was quite a few level 1 characters who were created to send random messages to people about different ways to buy gold.

At this point in time, the only way to significantly regain lost WoW players or gain new players (and eliminate their stagnant userbase) is to release a new game which takes advantage of modern technology. While I’m not (typically) a big pusher of technical enhancement for the sake of technical enhancement, with MMO games the interactivity within the game is limited by processing power because the processing power of a server is split so many ways (to service all of the users). The difference in processing power available at the end of 2004 and what will be available at the end of 2010 (or 2011) is fairly substantial, and the interactivity in the game should be similar to the jump from the Playstation to the PS2.

Shoot, I was kinda hoping this was the beginning of the end of MMO's.

I'm sure it does, there is no real way to distinguish them.  Although they have taken to spelling out their website names with the bodies of dozens of characters in the main cities, so they are probably skewing this stat even more now.

If this is true, that 70% stop playing WoW after a couple of hours, and yet the game has 11,5 million subscribers... This might be the best selling game ever, certainly the best non-bundled one.

As much as I really like playing Wow... I'd love Blizzard to maybe move some of their other franchises into the MMORPG realm. *Hint: Diablo, or Starcraft*

OT: I think he really meant alts.  11.5 million subscribers still means 11.5 million accounts paying.  So with each account able to have 50 characters... it kind of makes sense that there could be many characters who don't level past 10.  Heck, I've got 8 toons, and only really play 2 of them. 

I don't like WoW. FF XI is much better imo.

I don't think there is any way for me to disagree more with the bolded. We need LESS MMO's not more.

I wonder if that number includes free trial accounts?