WARNING: Sorry for the essay!
TL; DR: Maybe Discords aren’t super bad if the game is surviving (without growing) on them. Discord-based gameplay isn’t good, but it’s okay enough that many people who are kinda grind-focused won’t quit.
Oh wait… this is actually a harder question than I thought at first, because it raises the question: where would the game be now if organized raiding Discords didn’t exist? Did these Discords actually rejuvenate interest in the game at one point?
I know for me at least, going from the boring lull of late Kabam ROTMG to the efficiency-based Discord raiding of DECA ROTMG was actually kinda fun because it was something new and interesting. The chest events felt like a godsend after years of a brutal gameplay under Kabam. DECA seemed like the obviously better company because they were nicer and gave our free character slots and free loot and stuff.
Would the game have survived that period immediately after Kabam if organized raiding didn’t exist? I think it’s a very difficult question to answer because the way DECA did things with chest events and endgame dungeons basically force organized raiding into existence. So perhaps it wasn’t the Discords, but DECA’s design that damaged the game?
But at the same time, what DECA did to some extent was just to sustain the game until they can push out new releases. Every single chest event, as much as I hate them, are just a sort of sustenance to get the players to do SOMETHING as opposed to nothing. I think there are many better somethings that the players could do though.
However, the point that “large group Discord raids demolished ROTMG” is what I agree with. And the reason it’s demolished ROTMG is because it’s forced the game into being very mechanical and repetitive. When everything is Discord-oriented and efficiency-focused, the game loses replayability.
I’m looking forward to what DECA has planned for the future, however. Big things are coming (at least I feel this way based on what DECA is doing), and hopefully they’re be able to slowly shift the game away from chest events and more towards… fun events.