And it may be just fact, but its also the reality of how the devs viewed the game.
The problem here, I think, is that people still regard talents as their primary source of class structure and progression. That's just not true any more, with all the primary, core spells now given by default in your spell book. Talents in MoP are about utility. The choice comes from deciding which talent best serves you during the fight.99% of the time, the current talent system is more like you are playing with all the talents, but 66% of them are useless on each fight. In effect you only really want 1 of each talent for each tier per a fight, so where is the choice? If you aren't in a situation where you really want 2-3 talents from each tier on any given fight, than you aren't making a real choice.
No kidding it forces you into a role, that's the point. You pick the talent that serves your role the best. And your role can easily change from fight to fight. Does it lack the "WOW I FINALLY GOT TO LEVEL XX AND GOT THIS AWESOME SPELL" feel of the old system? I guess? After leveling enough characters, the old system ceased to have that effect itself.The current system lacks fun whilst leveling(new shiney talent each level) and it forces you into a role.