This isn't exactly the most relevant thread for me to post this but class design is one the most important aspects of an MMO to me and seeing these posts really ignites my feelings for what Blizzard has done, but here goes:
There used to be a time where I thought Blizzard could do no wrong.
I've spent countless hours on Diablo 2 and LoD, Warcraft 3 RoC/TFT, Starcraft 1, Warcraft 2 B.net... I even played the hell out of The Lost Vikings for Sega when I was a kid.
I realize now that Blizzard isn't the same company anymore, the industry as a whole has changed and Blizzard has followed suit. With mobile games and microtransactions dominating the landscape, RNG slotmachine gacha gameplay has become seemingly mandatory.
They cater to the casual audience in terms of gameplay systems and mechanics to garner the largest audience possible and sell them tokens (gold), levels boosts, and cosmetics. They know they can make the game simpler and more accessible and most of the hardcore audience will stay and casual players will flock en masse.
Everything in BfA is designed to be a time sink to stretch subscriptions. They're clearly taking the mobile gaming route to maximize profit while minimizing development costs (IE unique content in the form of interesting abilities, classes, gear (tier sets/legendaries/gear progression).
Azerite gear isn't farmable so you only get a few shots at it per week. If you want good traits you have to keep coming back and using every weekly opportunity.
AP is technically farmable, but unreasonable to do so thanks to the exponential growth of the level requirements. You hit a brick wall and can either spend a dozen hours a week farming AP for 1-2 levels or you can wait another week or two for the requirements to drop.
(mandatory) Gold sinks are at an all time high while gold generation has decreased by orders of magnitude compared to the previous two expansions. Earning gold any way other than playing the AH arguably results in you spending gold faster than you can make it, at least without putting in a lot of effort just to afford consumables for raids and m+. Just another way to keep you playing
New content is minimal. The M+ system is designed to recycle old content and stretch it as far as possible. It can be enjoyable but after the first few weeks the only people having fun with it are the ones pushing their third-party RaiderIO score. Without RaiderIO M+ would be dead.
Classes are pruned to simplify balance and reduce development time/costs. The result is that power is pushed into things like azerite traits and your AP level, which goes back to my previous points where you need to come back week-to-week and exhaust all your weekly opportunities for the traits and AP.
Leveling is nearly at an all time low in terms of pace of time required. BOA has been nerfed, mob health has roughly tripled, and exp rewards have been reduced.
Allied races were added and disguised as "content" behind the thinly veiled time-sink that is leveling. They want you to buy level boosts or waste your sub time spamming low level dungeons and quests; either way they win. You're paying in sub time or real money for an instant boost.
The list keeps going. It's actually kind of gross in a way. I feel like I'm being cheated the same way I do when a mobile game asks for money to progress.
Blizzard isn't the same company anymore and it's actually kind of depressing because I grew up playing and LOVING Blizzard games. Now I feel like I'm just pushing terrible practices by giving them 15$ every month. The worst part is that all of their recent games follow a similar pattern. Overwatch, Hearthstone, and even Heroes of the Storm are nothing but lootbox stores with a game built on top to make you feel like you're not gambling.