Tydosius wrote:So, now that they're gone, I'll just say that the WoW I played before was significantly worse than the WoW I play now. Everything about the game was simply tolerable and the only reasons they prefer the old one is because the point to the game was the highest numbers, and because the game was newer to them. Now, the game actually expects them to just have fun with the game, and they seem to have a hard time with that.
Sounds like you're just overgeneralizing and oversimplifying reasons you think you understand but don't. It's true that new-game-bias exists to some degree, however saying the new game is clearly better is a matter of opinion.
For instance, it was nice that in Vanilla, being in a top raiding guild in PVE meant that you were nearly unstoppable in PVP, because resilience wasn't a thing yet, and most casual players were unable to get any gear above blues/tier 1 epics at best. This meant that there was a heightened sense of satisfaction amongst elitists when one acquires tier 3 epics because of the exclusiveness of your gear and the success that transfers to all aspects of the game. Whereas with later expansions, because epics were more easily acquired, it made "epic gear" feel less epic. Furthermore, getting gear so you can get more gear is kinda a boring goal; having PVP as an outlet to fully appreciate your gear was a source of motivation. Nowadays, PVE gear is more strictly PVE because PVP gear is the recommended norm in PVP.
Whether it's a better designed game doesn't really matter at this point. If you're in the upper echelons of the server, your enjoyment of the game is only dependent on your own perspective, especially when you compare past experiences. New WoW is more accommodating to casuals, so I can see why some may prefer that. But it doesn't mean you can deny other people's perspectives as well.
Also 40man chaos was fun (for non-raid leaders) however frustrating it may be. You only have to look at the Onyxia 50 DKP Minus video to see what I mean. It's entertaining in its own way.