Imagine a line between 2 points. Point A is the world (immersion, rp) and point B is game(just they gamey part). And somewhere in the middle are the MMO games depending how much they lean towards immersion or gamey..
generally, sandbox games are close to point A while themepark games are close to point B. But this doesnt mean that they need to be exactly on A or B.. they can just be somewhere in the middle..
Over the years wow has pushed the line a lot towards point B removing more and more immersion and rpg elements in favor of convenience... it used to be somewhere in the middle..
What OP asks in some of his requests is to move further towards the B point... I personally disagree. I read some arguments like "but you mine without a pickaxe" or "you receive a dragon mount on your mailbox"..
true and i am not happy about it. But that doesnt mean that the game must move more to point B.. on the contrary, i believe that it need to start moving back to the other side before it stops being titled as RPG