Wow... What an uninformed statement.... EVERY expansion since at least AoS had just as big, or bigger, layoffs shortly after the initial post-release major bug passes went through. Then, when the next expansion was planned, they hired (and hired back) people who were specifically NOT part of the current staff to work on it, to do most of the grunt work, as their "absence" would not be noted, as the players wouldn't even know they were there, until the lead slips up and mentions them and their project.
