See these at the end of the day are opinions, I don’t feel like RNG equates to skill regarding azerite traits.
Artificial complexity and RNG does not equate to better gameplay. Retail just has introduced artificial time sink treadmills on top of the normal gear treadmill and has even shifted the paradigm of acquiring gear all with the goal of increasing time players spend without improving on gameplay.
I would argue stances offer more depth than anything on retail even though on retail the core rotations are more “complex”. The air quotes because I still find the rotations on retail to be super easy. I would argue that gameplay is more linear on retail because specs at the core are carbon copies just with different names for spells or resources.
Though all of that is teriatary (not even secondary ) I find it hard justifying retail as a real MMO when the social and multiplayer component has all but been eradicated coupled with the systematic homeginaztion and pruning of classes/specs.
Vanilla has many flaws but is still a much better iteration, the primary difference being that almost everything you do feels like a milestone and feels rewarding.
It’s hard to quantify a “feeling” and ultimately these are just my opinions but retail feels more like a chore that has hallow gameplay that is designed to make me feel compelled and forced to do things just to maintain these artificial progression curves above and beyond what it used to be of just strictly doing progression raids and pvping at a high level to be rewarded with the best respective gear.
Also people have been playing classic despite being “halted” for the last 15 years so there is a defined playerbase. We also are talking about years of gameplay if you want to clear all raids to Nax, enjoy PvP etc play even a single alt etc.
Realistically the also opened a box where they could release respective TBC, WoTlk servers. Though I hope if they did, they keep them as their own seperate servers and allow to create copies of your character from the previous expansion to them.
I would argue that warriors in Wotlk had way more complexity the they do on retail, especially in PvP. I have always found PvE rotations easy. The most involved rotation for warrior in the history of the entire game was probably 2 handed arms with imp slam in TBC very few warriors used it, even that I personally found easy and would have fun going Arms 2 handed and out dpsing my counterparts despite being the “inferior” spec to fury.
One major difference that still holds true in classic is the opportunity and ability to outplay still exists and split second decisions are still prevelant. Especially when you consider engineering gadgets (bombs/trinkets/rocket boots mind control helmet) and alchemy potions (FaP/swiftness) that can have a huge impact on PvP . Stances mean you have to make mindful split second decision that barely exists on retail. The pinnacle for warriors was probably in Wotlk but it still was true in Vanilla.
Do I go to berserker stance for that overpower and open myself up to fear/gouge.
Do I go defensive stance and switch to sword and board to shield block that incoming aimed shot.
Do I fear that Hunter/Warlock on opener to create a dps window or save it defensively to get that life saving band aid window.
Did I use defensive stance before getting sheeped to reduce in coming damage the mage is going to onload.
Did I bait the other warriors intercept and slow him so I can intercept his healer and watch him waddle around to close the distance.
Did I apply rend and use demo to prevent and/or break complete re-stealths.
Did I save my GCD for the second the enemy gets <20% to instantly be able to get that finishing execute.
Did I hold my GCD for the second before that heal/sheep/fear cast to be able pummel in time.
Did I spend my rage to at or below 25 rage before switching stances to maximize my resource and damage.
Bacially I could keep going with these examples but that should be enough for now.
Most of them revolve around stances and weapon swaps but that shows how something so simple that isn’t complex can create depth and meaningful gameplay. Specs were also distinct and unique with defining strengths and weaknesses.