This has been my issue since Draenor. I actually liked the questing and combat pacing in Draenor, but the flying issue became a nuance. I have played on and off since it the original release, and always thought the game made progression up to that point. While this is opinion, I loved Pandaria’s theme and setup, and it helped me kill time.
I stopped halfway through Draenor due to the flying issue, and as a result I never really accomplished any of the pathfinder goals. I have begun to go back for the sake of alts and begin the process, but I will say it feels beyond burdensome. Because I am grounded, what would seem like a menial task, actually piles up on time. While I wouldn’t say it is horrid or difficult, it actually bores me to a large extent.
The factions for WOD were all released with pathfinder, and as a result I was starting fresh. I found out that 2/3 are gated behind daily quests. (which for pathfinder is normal), but this results in a minimum of 14 days of Dailies to accomplish the achievement. Saberfang almost seems more tolerable as you can just repeatedly kill mobs to move forward.
Likewise in Legion pathfinder wore me out quickly, just as I felt compelled to push for the achievement goals, draining my will from anything else.
As I have stated before, I am not against the idea of pathfinder or working to a goal, it has always been the time gating and how it is done. I loved leveling 110-120, but as I play alts, now my drive for flying comes more so forward.
If anything, I personally would like to see the dailies as a supplement and not a requirement for things like this. Make certain mobs allocate reputation, and become more valuable. Because as it stands, especially for Legion and Draenor, the grind really lacked a punch because nothing else really came out of it.
Saberfang faction grind should be the model for others, not the exception. Even in the past expansions, mobs would allocate reputation, even if by little amounts. It just drains me to know that I am essentially logging on to accomplish my set of quests for reputation, and then I have nothing else I can do to push forward after that.
To add on, I fervently believe flying shouldn’t be released 8 months after a expansions launch, but rather the start. I would love to see flying available since day one of a expansion, even if I had to work for it. This time gating is becoming burdensome for me.