I prefer things the way that they are now in comparison to how they used to be. I find them much more immersive and entertaining than being forced into a bunch of mindless arbitrary "walk here, buy this, this, this, and that, then slap it on the golden giant axe that you pulled out of a dragon's stomach."
If I want that level of meta and blow away loads of times that I don't have, I'll play D&D. I play WoW because it has always had the casual approach designed for gamers that have lives outside of the game.