I think the ideas of less restrictive FCMs is an interesting one. It’s sort of a solution to a problem that exists because servers exist the way they do. So rather than saying, Hey maybe servers aren’t working out the way we intended for the 2022 audience, maybe we can redesign this, it’s a sort of easy way to deal with what we have. For that reason, I see it as interesting to try, while maybe not the best solution, but maybe better than what we have.
Cross-server AH, or a unified AH seems reasonable to me, too. The idea that the lower pop servers would become more active for farming is maybe not a bad thing.
Personally, I dislike the idea of cross-realm instances, because I find it to be restrictive and anti-community. Meeting people in dungeons, and leveling up together, then later joining or forming end-game content groups is something I’ve personally done several times throughout the Classic series, and is a large part of community, in my opinion.
Of course, there’s the idea that if you have less restrictive FCMs, then if you regularly run instanced content with people you meet along the way, you may all find yourselves on the same server at some point, so maybe it’s not so bad.
I do sort of think that this all points back to the idea that servers (and characters locked to them) working the way they do now doesn’t feel like the best thing we could have.