[Coda]

I agree that some classes are getting really shook up; my Death Knight is finding himself with both of his specs disappearing. (I dual-wield, both as tank and as DPS, and if I want to continue to tank I'm essentially forced to go 2H now and I won't be able to play disease DW.) But that's just a bit of re-gearing, which everyone's going to be doing ANYWAY getting from level 81 to 85.

As for Tree of Life form, you still get it and you're still expected to use it; it's not being taken away from you. It's just part of Blizzard's plan to cut back on talents that grant passive bonuses and replace them with more active things. You're going to like the new Tree of Life form a lot more than the old one, I think, once you've had an opportunity to get used to it with a few serious raids; it'll be more fun to play even if it's a bit less available for RP.

Still, that's not what I call "basic mechanics" by any stretch -- as I said, overall the game still plays like the same game; they're just tuning it. These changes aren't any more dramatic than the changes that happened between the initial release and Wrath, and it's all in the name of making the game more fun to play. They're making gameplay more interesting and less punishing -- if you lag for a moment or miss a button it's not going to completely screw up your output anymore like what happened with some specs of some classes during Wrath.

Maybe it's just my experience playing Classic talking. Wrath made the game too easy to settle into hitting your buttons in order without having to pay too much attention.