Definitely not true. Wrath, Cata, and MoP all had flying involved at max level at least... The time to farm was significantly easier. I would farm for about an hour every night before raid in Cata on my rogue and get enough herbs to make more than enough flasks and pots for 16 hours of raiding a week. 2-3 hours of farming was easily enough for 32 hours of raiding and I usually sold the extra for a small amount of gold. Never before has it been this hard to not only farm mats but also to just buy the damn things. I didn't actually NEED to have an herbalist and an alchemist in Cata but I did it because I felt like spending a little extra time to make a little extra money. It's basically mandatory now and I'm getting rekt for deciding to be a miner/BS right now.