You’re wrong here. It definitely is a systemic design problem. All classes in the first three expansions are defined by very distinct types of CC / anti-CC / gap closers:
Spoiler for those who are interested and don't lose focus reading more than a few sentences
- Rogues are stun machines, the only class with two long stuns that don’t share a DR (Diminishing Returns) group - Cheap shot and Kidney shot. They also have Sap, Gouge and Blind. And all abilities are physical (not dispellable). One of the two classes with sprint. Sub is the only class with blink to target. Rogue is also one of the four classes with a disarm. One of the two classes with stealth (hunters don’t have stealth). Can vanish to remove roots. Has preparation to reset some of major cooldowns every 5 min.
- Mages are one of the three classes with a blanket silence (target can’t cast, even if used not during a cast) and the only one that has this function built into the interrupt (so it has short CD like 20-24sec). Frost is a root machine, with a Deep freeze stun that increases their damage. In arcane they are the only class with a very good instant ranged slow without a CD (I think warlock’s CoEx had CD, but might be wrong here). Fire had Dragon breath which was the only AoE blind in the game as well as the wave thing which was one of the only two AoE knockbacks (I don’t remember ST knockbacks though). One of the three classes with a purge (enemy buff dispell) but it requires a lot of mana and grants that buff to the mage. The only class with spammable poly, which is basically a fear, but on different DR and heals the target. The only class with a blink. Can block to remove most CC / prevent damage, but it’s dispellable.
- Warlocks have pet silence (maybe it was a blanket as well, I’m not sure, but will assume it’s not). They also have pet dispell, but don’t quite remember how it worked. Maybe it could dispell both friends and enemies? but it definitely had a CD of 24-30seconds. Both are on the felhunter. Also has a spammable pet charm on succubus. The only class with spammable fear. Has portal.
- Druids were the only class that a physical CC that is even more powerful than a stun, but prevents all damage to the target. Also the only class with roots without cooldown. One of the only two classes with sprint (in cat only). A single bear stun. They can’t dispell magic. One of the three that has disarm. Cat and bear charge are only available to feral.
- Shamans are the only class that have an AoE spell ignore (grounding totem). The only class with AoE fear ignore (tremor totem). Elemental is one of the two classes with AoE knockback. Shamans can also have the shortest interrupt in the game (was it 7 seconds?). They can’t dispell magic. One of the only three classes with a purge (enemy buff dispell).
- Paladin is one of the two classes that can dispell magic. The only class with a stun that lasts as long as those of rogue’s stuns (1 sec longer than 0DR cheap short IIRC, 1-2 sec shorter than 5CP kidney), but paladin’s stun is magic, so it can be dispelled. Ret is the only class that can remove stuns while being stunned. Holy is one of the two classes with an ability to grant an absorb shield to a target. Can also heal two targets at once if nobody purges the buff. Has bop that can’t be used in stuns and cyclone, as well as bubble that can’t be used in cyclone if memory serves. One of the two classes with a freedom.
- Priest is one of the two classes that can dispell magic. Also one of the three classes that have a purge. The only class with a mana burn. Shadow is one of the three classes that has a blanket (2 min CD) and also one of the four classes with a disarm. One of the three classes with fear, but CD is 24 sec. One of the two classes with mass dispell that can dispell bubble and mage’s block, but cast is only fast in disc, costs a lot of mana, but no CD.
- DKs, similar to arcane, have a very effective slow that is ranged and doesn’t have a CD, but it required ice or unholy rune, so it’s not as spammable (a lot of people thought it shouldn’t be spammable though). They also have physical stun but short and from pet only. One of the three classes with a ranged blanket silence (but it has 2 minute CD), but DK’s one requires much shorter distance than mage has. The only class with a temporal stun immunity AFAIK. Can’t use icebound if already stunned though.
- Warrior - has stance dance, charge, intercept, intervene. One the first two stun. Charge is 1 second, intercept is 2 AFAIK. The only class with physical fear, but it’s 3 min CD. The only class with shield block. The only class with shield wall. The only class with bladestorm which deals huge damage but is disarmable. One of the four classes with a disarm (requires defensive stance). The only class with two interrupts that share a CD, but one requires a shield and silence lasts longer. The only melee class that has an attack that can’t be dodged (which is very important since agility grants dodge). The only class with spell reflect. The only class with attack reflect (2 min CD). The only class that can remove fear from itself every 30 seconds. One of the two classes that can dispell bubble/block every 5 min.
- Hunter is the range with the longest maximum range. The only range with physical damage. One of the four classes that has disarm but it requires a non-damage sting. One of the two classes with a mana burn, but it also requires a sting (and is dispellable). The only class that has a long range blind. The only class with a ranged gouge but you have to aim. The only class with a reverse blink. Has deterrence, but can’t attack during it and warriors can hit though it with overpower from the back. One of the two classes with a freedom, but it requires a pet in range of the target. Pets can also have a root or a stun. The only class with anticrit, but it requires an alive pet of a specific family. Has readiness to rest some of major cooldowns every 5 min.
TL;DR:
Only rogues and druids (in cat) have sprint. Only rogues can stun for long. Paladins can stun too but weaker, warriors as well, but charge is more of a spell interrupt / gap closer and intercept is 2 second stun), mages can stun in frost, but it’s used for burst most of the time. Very few classes have anti-CC (DK against stuns every 2 min, DK against magic during AMS, druid against polymorph and roots (but costs mana and GCD), rogue against roots with vanish or during cloak, hunter during deterrence, paladin during bubble, paladin can also protect anyone from physical CC with a BoP AFAIK. Mage can also block. Only mage has blink (one). Only hunter has reverse blink (one but can use readiness to reset).
I was able to remember and write it all in ~20 minutes, without wowhead or an AI. I haven’t played any of those three expansions in ages. It’s because all of them have a very clear identity, they are all distinct. There’s very few abilities that do the same things and even those differ! For example, the game has 4 disarms but some of them are only taking away the main hand weapon AFAIK and a fourth one requires to put a certain debuff to be used first and that debuff replaces the main DoT. There are three main purges, but only two don’t have a CD. Only two healers can dispell magic. Only two classes have directional blinks. Only two classes have sprint.
Can you remember it like this from the top of your head for the current patch (or for DF / Shadowlands if you played PvP more there)?
First one is obviously out of the question, nobody suggested that.
Second one is the way to go. Look at the list above. Every single button is meaningful and distinct. Some of those buttons are still distinct today, and that’s basically everything the class identity still stands on. But every class has a gap closer or multiple ones now. Everyone got stuns, sprints, roots, and everything in between.
There are very few exceptions, for example, I disagree with OP that warlock mobility should be nerfed - warlocks have always suffered from bad mobility and still continue to do so. The only busted thing I can remember is SL CoEx legendary. Also, on two-level arenas teleport is much stronger than on others, but I don’t think it needs nerfs.
At the same time, rogue lost separate DR for cheap and kidney, kidney got CD increased from 24 to 30 seconds but most importantly - blind’s duration is now 8 seconds instead of 5. So you can’t do blind → vanish → sap now or blind → flag cap. Many other classes got stuns and sprints. That completely eroded rogue to the point it went from consistent top3-5 most popular classes to the least played class after evoker.
If anyone wants to know more about rogue situation
Why rogue is the least played class - #26 by Veindren-tarren-mill
- for CC / gap closers specifically. And the original post there for a more or less comprehensive take on the matter.
There don’t have to be “nukes that one-shot you” either. Just balance it properly so healers are not immortal but nobody has to have a reaction of a 12-year old hardcode gamer) Previously, the game was slower, simpler, more approachable (in most cases, in some it was less like combo points on target), and more popular at the same time. And I’m not talking about vanilla. WotLK is much slower and still very popular. Cata is a bit faster and already more bloated but still fine. Even MoP, while being vastly more complex than anything before is much better. Even during Legion and BfA CC was balanced better than it is now, at least rogue CC weren’t completely obliterated yet (who’s rogue without being a CC king anyway?).