Possibly. I know some games (The Secret World, Star Trek Online, Star Wars: The Old Republic, The Elder Scrolls Online, etc.) are acutely aware of of just how substantial their RP communities are and bend over backwards to give them shit to to buy and places to hang out. For example, in The Secret World you are guaranteed at least 2-3 new sets of clothes and 1-2 pets per a major holiday or Issue release... and they know damn well how much people were willing to pay for the option to ride vehicles (30 bucks last time I looked). Star Wars releases at least 1 new weapon per weapon type and 5-6 new customizable armor sets per a month. These put these things in 4 dollar boxes and people DO drop cash for the sets of 24 boxes all the god damn time... fuck, people buy the 10 dollar boxes that have the rarest outfits. People can laugh and point at TOR for not having a huge player base but when I look at the hundreds of weapons and armor pieces for sale on the market (that only come from boxes) I realize that EA doesn't -need- a huge player base because the one they have is full of whales. It's not even pay to win because all they are selling is empty shells you can stick stat items into and you have to get those through game play!I doubt Blizzard cares about the RP community.
Basically, if you want to make money selling clothes, weapons, mounts, toys, or pets that people can stick onto their costumes, the RP community (your most dedicated player base because they have attachments beyond the game itself) is where your whales reside. They will drop cash (or gold that other people want so THEY'LL buy stuff just to sell to them) just to keep in fashion with everyone else. As such, it pays to consider them when developing new content because they will bankroll it 2 bucks at a time.