I have been playing WoW since vanilla. I generally like the direction the game is going--it continues to dominate it's market. I do think that it has been toned-down too much: the devs have tamed the beast for a wider market.
Many of my friends have said the same things about WoW as well. Quick leveling being one thing they seem to point to. Its good to make a game accessible though.
I picked up WoW and it seemed pretty streamlined for new players. Its a balance though between streamlining the process for new players and creating great content for long time players.
I should start up a free-to-20 character some time now that Cat changed the landscape just to see how things have changed. The game was fun for a little while but I got bored with it pretty quick. After playing FFXI for so many years, which is brutally hard at times, playing WoW seemed a little too easy.
Ipicked it up for a year or so and saw that most of the fun seemed to be endgame, and I never had the time to get there. It felt like hours and hours of grind before the real fun began.
I picked up WoW and it seemed pretty streamlined for new players. Its a balance though between streamlining the process for new players and creating great content for long time players.
What do you think of Pandaria?