There clearly is two opposing factions within the #nochanges crowd. Those that want to be able to exploit/break the game and those that just want to enjoy the gameplay as it was before TBC was ever a thing. I specifically remember the devs stating that there were players that didnt want to play TBC and yet with the patch 2.0 affecting the base game - this was gone.
Classic is a natural progression (not a museum piece) of patch 1.12. Its build upon the game as it stood with 1.12 and any changes that have been made (due to players exploiting/abusing directly affecting other peoples time) are those that would have taken place if TBC had never arrived.
Classic+ has always been stated to be an option if enough of the playerbase wanted it.