What innovations you mean? Group tech? LFR/LFG, crossrealm, flexible raids etc? It was taken from other mmos afaik. For sure it's an innovation for wow, but the last one (flex raids) happened 6 years ago.
I wonder why they don't do the quest choice route tbh. It would perfectly fit Shadowlands. Your quest deeds determine your covenant. Were you a good boy? Didn't just walk up to that guy and mercilessly slaughtered him, but tried to talk sense to him (first)? Go to Kyrian. Bad boys (terminator style killing machines) go to the Venthyr. And others in between. Smarter NPCs (from islands) could be a norm as well maybe in the more difficult areas. It would give these factions more depth, meaning, difference. Of course it would mean that some part of the questing experience would have 4 routes and outcomes...
It's kind of worrying that even the casual endgame experience can't be about outdoor stuff, yeah surely we need one more endlessly repeatable instanced content, who doesn't like to go from one crammed dark instance to another one.
Your mounts could learn abilities instead of the equipped shit. Horses (forsaken ones too) could learn a short sprint, kodos(?
) and goats climbing/jumping rocks, some of them to jump longer. You could have one mount out in the world following you and mounting it could be an actual animation (instead of mere cast time). When you go afk your mount could go graze nearby or hunt critters (sabercats, raptors) (maybe disable this in cities and rated bgs and arenas). ETC.