I tried getting a friend into AO once, he laughed his ass off that I pay 17.19euro - 22.84$ per month for such an outdated game "2 pixels on a screen" (his words).
And I agree with him, don't think there is a mmorpg that charges as much as AO does, especially when the technology is so outdated that it makes you cringe when someone asks you what mmo do you play.
To be perfectly honest the players share some blame to all this SOON TM. It's pointless to argue and moan about it on the forum while at the same time pay for it. Companies don't take decisions from how many rage posts there are on forums, but from the actual $ balance at the end of the month/year.
Look at EvE when the ingame shop scandal happened, thousands of players canceled their accounts and in a couple of days they changed their policy. So if you actually want your voice to be heard, vote with your wallet, simple as that.