The difference is the people who claim that Wc3 is Dead seem to have more broaden horizons and seem to bring logical arguments based on facts.
While the other group just talks about hopes, dreams, illusions... things which do not exist. They are like "let's talk about MAYBE". Maybe doesn't factor into anything. Maybe doesn't exist. Maybe is not solid. Furthermore you just focus on one thing, that warcraft is not clinicly dead.
No, of course it's not clinicly dead... as long as Battle.net exists, and there is 1 player online doing something.... it's not dead. Just like Starcraft Brood War isn't clinicly dead. I can log now and find a couple of maps to play in SC:BW.
-----------------------------------------
Yet SC:BW is dead... how you ask ? Simple....................:
SC:BW has stopped progressing! SC:BW is not progressing anymore.
From a modder/custom gamer point of view... one of the most important moments in Warcraft3, which prooved that it was alive... was when progress was made. For example... when people learned to make a model for Wc3, when they learned to make a skin for Wc3, when they learned to create triggers for Wc3, when they learned how to make save/load codes for ORPGs, when they learned to make MUI spells, when they made that custom WE (the name was... I forgot?.. was it WorldEditorUnlimited!?), and probably other moments I have not observed myself and not know them. These were the moments Warcraft3 modding/custom game scene was progressing. Simply making a new skin does not necesarily mean that the modding scene is progressing. A new skin could be the equivalent of a new spoon in real life. How would that sound in real life !? "Mankind has progressed ! Today at the shop in the crossroads, the owner... made a spoon".
From a meele gamer point of view... Wc3 competitional play is dead. Do they even have Wc3 in the WCG2011? As I know the two greatest champions in Wc3 (Grubby and Moon) have moved on to SC2. And I am not aware of any new meele maps created for the meele pool for Bnet. The tournaments, which represent Wc3 as progressing in meele games, do not exist anymore.
Based on what I wrote above I conclude that Wc3 is in fact dead, because it's not progressing anymore. Just because some guy got today his Dryad Icon for his account doesn't mean the game is progressing, just because some guy played a match of X custom game and won the map doesn't mean the game is progressing, just because some guy makes a new map and is using the same old systems doesn't mean the game is progressing.
Everyone is free to believe what they want, they can be die hard Warcraft fans because they have no other real life occupation, or maybe they are just to addicted to Warcraft which is not right, they can believe that Warcraft is not dead because it's not clinicly dead. For me, something which is not progressing, but it's clinicly alive, I find it dead... it doesn't move... it doesn't touch my soul... it doesn't entertain me... it doesn't teach me... it doesn't do anything for me... it's just like a song on repeat mode.
The property of values is one hard to learn, and hard to apply it to anything, but for all those people who say that Warcraft is alive, because it's clinicly alive, and because maybe hopes and dreams come true... I tell you to learn to have the property of values and adding them to everything around you,... it might just get you out of the bubble you are living in.
-----------------------------------------
@Imtor - I was just trying to explain why the SC2 ladder is all around the same thing between Bronze and Diamond. Newbies/casuals just have a hard time learning the macro aspect. Especially when you are playing Zerg... you need to keep that larva inject up! Terran I think it's the most easiest because you can que up units, while at Protoss it's like Zerg, you need to Warp-In everytime the cooldown is off.
And yes I do think that the Wc3 players like Moon have had a harder time adapting to the macro aspect of the game compared to a player like IdrA. But that doesn't mean that the Wc3 players are inferior to those who started in SCBW, just that it takes a while for them to adjust to the macro aspect of the game. I know Moon got 2nd place in Dreamhack2011, he is a very strong SC2 player and many former Wc3 players are strong SC2 players today.