Laugh all you want, but I canceled my subscription due to similar trends. Why do I still post on wow related forums? Because I would very much like to be bought over once again by Blizzard, but so far in the months since I quit they have continued to stray from what I would deem a quality gaming experience with "innovations" like this (yes I also hate on LFD, LFR, flying mounts etc.) that disintegrate the RPG element of the game. It's hard to 'role play' when it is so incredibly difficult to build a character-specific reputation among other players because you never see the same person twice.
I will say that it was a nice thought, because they wanted to bring some 'life' back into the game especially on lower population servers. However, it's definitely the wrong time for a change like this when it's already an abysmally anti-social experience to play wow.