Guild perks and the death of the independent player

I wasn't against the idea of guild perks when they were first announced. Back then, I was under the impression that they would only improve content that was actually done in a guild, like raids and rated battlegrounds, and only have effects that solo players wouldn't feel the lack of. Once the guild perks were announced, some of them did fit this mold, including Cash Flow, which deposits money equal to 10% of money you loot from enemy corpses into your guild bank, and Guild Mail, which makes in-game mail sent between guild members arrive instantly. However, the potency and scope of some of these bonuses blew me away. A few highlights:

-Reinforce (Rank 2): Items take 10% less durability loss when you die.
-Hasty Hearth: Reduces the cooldown on your Hearthstone by 15 minutes.
-Working Overtime: Increases the chance to gain a skill increase on tradeskills by 10%.
-Everyone's A Hero (Rank 2): Increases Heroism points gained by 10%.
-Honorable Mention (Rank 2): Increases Honor points gained by 10%.
-Bartering (Rank 2): Reduces the price of items from all vendors by 10%.
-Bountiful Bags: Increases the quantity of materials gained from Mining, Skinning, Herbalism, and Disenchanting by 15%.

My initial idea of guild perks as something that would only benefit group content done with a guild was blown out of the water. These bonuses are not only applicable to content done outside of a guild (solo-ing and PUG'ing), but they are greatly helpful in that content as well. Which is why I am now wary of them.

You see, I am a guild-less player. All of my characters are guildless, main and alts, and before these perks were announced, I saw no reason to change that. For one thing, my playing is quite inconsistent. I've been known to not play at all for a week or two, then jump back in to WoW as if I had never stopped. The fact that I also don't enjoy raiding gives me little reason to want to join a guild, and guilds little reason to want me to join. All of the content that encompasses the majority of my playtime (solo-ing and heroics) can either be done alone or PUG'ed, so when my last guild kicked me for inactivity (another one of my breaks combined with me not signing up for the raids anymore), I let it go and didn't bother to look for a new one. Of course, now I'll have to look for a guild. I'd have to be mad to be willing to pass up on those bonuses up there. 15% more herbs and enchanting mats? 10% more heroism points? 50% reduction on the cooldown of my hearthstone? How could I pass those up?

Now, I could go on about how this change is another way WoW is shafting solo players, but solo-ers likely don't have any inherent hesitation about joining a guild for these bonuses. No, the inclusion of these guild perks instead targets another group of players, and makes that group into second-class citizens: the lone wolves, the independent players, the players whose alliances last only as long as the dungeon or quest they are PUG'ing (as well as those who roleplay as that type). We may be rare, but we exist, for all of the reasons I mentioned above: some of us don't play consistently enough to be worthy of membership in a guild, and some of us just don't run content that requires or is improved by membership in a guild.

Now, don't get me wrong. I know exactly why Blizzard is implementing these bonuses, and its a goal that I support. They want membership in a guild to be more meaningful, to prevent people from guild-hopping when they don't like a guild for petty reasons, and also, I suppose, as a way of rewarding guild longevity. Now, if these bonuses were limited to bonuses that would be helpful during group content, I would support them whole-heartedly, and they would still accomplish the above-stated goal. However, with the bonuses coming out as stated above, I have to wonder: does Blizzard want all players to be a guild, regardless of personal reasons for not joining one? It seems an unlikely possibility, but the direction some of these bonuses have taken leads me to no other conclusion.

My best guess is that Blizzard wants players in guilds because a guilded player is less likely to stop playing. After all, what's to stop a guildless player, like me, from canceling his/her account when he/she (alright, from now on, male pronouns will be used to refer to both genders collectively) gets bored or frustrated with the current content, then starting it again when Cataclysm or the next patch comes out? Nothing. However, if that player is in a guild, that provides many compelling reasons for him to keep playing. If that guild is a raiding guild, he risks losing his spot, or just letting his guild down, if he stops playing. If that guild is just a social guild, that socializing could be what keeps him playing, and thus paying. As I said in my post on WoW's addictive elements, Blizzard has a vested interest in keeping us playing as they develop new content, which is part of the reason they make the game so addictive in the first place. Perhaps keeping players in guilds is part of that goal as well; to keep up playing, even when the game is boring.

I know, I know, another one of my conspiracy theories. To placate those who will inevitably call it such, I'll admit that they might just be implementing these because they want players to experience the joys of being in a guild, and some might need a little encouragement to do so, but if the joys of being in a guild aren't enough motivation for players to join and stay in one, then players shouldn't be coerced into being a part of something that isn't rewarding for them.