Intentional artificial feeling time wasting mechanics, XP weekends, increased drop rate weekends, etc.
All of these things knock a person right out of immersion. Frequently they also damage social behavior. "Pay for power" is at odds with "work together for power." "Pay to look cool" is at odds with "work together to look cool." "Use our market place to trade" and "most items are bound" directly damage the social nature of trading.
Money incentives anti-social behavior. Time wasting and artificial mechanics damage immersion. So blizzard spends time on features that are directly at odds with their mission.
At some point the diablo franchise went from "we're going to make an action rpg about killing demons" to "what's the best way to skin this slot machine". Diablo 3 feels like a completely artificial experience, while diablo 2 feels organic.
It all comes down to the who is given power in an organization. Boeing, Intel, Blizzard, etc. They have all made one critical error, which is to put MBA's and accountants in charge instead of engineers and creatives. Short term that's fine and benefits everyone but customers. Long term it kills the egg laying goose.
