To me Shadowlands feels like Legion except fixing their mistakes, except with covenant stories not nearly as cool as the class stories. That to me is the only worse thing.
Raiding is similar, except with no infinite AP friend.
The legendary system is similar except you can easily target them so everyone has the one they want quickly.
The abomination that was titanforging is gone.
PvP gearing is back to being useful and has a vendor.