Getting rid of a lead designer is a bit disturbing really, for a game. Why would they do that?
I think they shouldn't get rid of anyone. Just the games. Get rid of Warhammer and that other one, put all the staff into UO. I think that would, slowly, make UO numbers rise significantly enough to be able to justify having UO back as a disc release again. Imagine all of the event staff, GMs and developers there would be. More time can be invested making 2d art!
The way I see it, is if Warhammer was a "failure" in many ways, that time could have been spent on UO; a guaranteed earner. UO isn't dying at all, it just isn't growing. That means that numbers will decline slowly but people won't be leaving in huge numbers all at once.
My tip for the day to the people high up at EA; axe every other project that is new and stupid and give all the staff to EAMythic, who will just be renamed to EAUltima. Include a UO offer to subscribers of a/the EA newsletter, because everyone today knows what an MMO is but may not know that the company of the newsletter email that they read also make one too. The best.
And, as much as he is awesome, Draconi isn't a one-man dev team. Other staff are also important. It would suck for whoever does all the EM stuff to be axed, along with the EM program :/