As far as fight mechanics, I think Blizzard did a brilliant job in BRF and even Highmaul. The fights were fun, and I have enjoyed them. However, I really miss the other-worldly raid design from an instance like Ulduar. The Algalon bonus boss, the way the hard modes were triggered is pretty cool. But when you go back and look at the artwork for that point in time. The algalon scene and opening door, the entrance to Vezak's lair, Freya's conservatory, Mimiron's train. It's very awe inspiring and beautiful/mystical. I feel like with SoO, Highmaul, and BRF, it's all been dirt, rock, ogres, orcs, fire, lava. I just really enjoy the darker side of wow, such as the classic evil ghost stuff in Karazan and naxx, to the other worldy stuff in Ulduar and even ICC.
I know WoW is a business, but I feel like the business model is getting too 'LEAN' oriented, that the art leniency and those extra touches are going out the window in place of content. I feel like a game such as WoW will suffer more on the content side of things when content is being forced out, or when it is held to a set of restrictions or rules. I feel like the devs who made ulduar had a lot of free-reign and creative rope. I just ran 25 heroic Ulduar again last night and it still felt special. Sure there's some nostalgia there, but the fights and design are still really cool to me. That algalon door when you open it, the Algalon role play, really tugs at the heart strings. (Seems like a lot of design went into making that door, when they could have just had it be a regular door that opens with a key. Would the devs get away with that now? "No need to put anything extra on it, it's just a door, just get the content out" is what I feel like it's come to)
Anyway, I'm not necessarily complaining or saying that things are bad now, but I just wanted to see other people's opinions on what I have said. I feel like the fight design is really great, but I feel like the instance design and those special touches are kind of missing. The content sort of feels forced in that respect I suppose.
I guess also I've never been a horde fan. I've always enjoyed the medieval buildings of the alliance, and the ghosty stuff in duskwood, the old dragon boss in the emerald dream, ulduar, karazan, the sinister plots in elewynn, deadmines, Naxx 40, and all that old school spooky ass stuff.
I wish some of that would be brought back into the game. The pandas and orc stuff just doesn't inspire me the same way. Like, when I killed Algalon, Lich King, and Yogg Saron, it truly felt like I was fighting for a cause. When I killed mythic Blackhand, it felt like I was killing a closeted, confused orc who was angry at the world because he had bad parents. I more-so felt bad for him than anything else.