Having lots of players means little. It's the front-line dungeon-progress guys that matter. You can have a million players and only 100 of them matter, every one of those 100 is going to be extremely important.
@Kayriel as you said, from millions there are always a few hundred that matter, but that there is one that if disappears (taking into account that players "retiring" isn't abnormal) just show incompetence
I can't say it's incompetence, just a lack of resources. If having more of the strong ones is better, then having fewer is worse, right? If you already don't have many, each one becomes more and more important. It's not like you can just easily replace them all day and night. Each one is a cornerstone of some guild or plan or organization. Losing one of them is a big blow.