In retail all of the game is endgame, and the leveling is just a tutorial. It has indeed taken quite a turn from classic, where a majority of the game is leveling and then end game is brain dead easy.
I like it as it is now, leveling is short so you can get to the end game, but you also have the choice of staying for the story. You can even level lock yourself at 59 and continue finishing everything in eastern kingdom and kalimdor if you like the story, but the idea of it being forced is horrible.
Personally i don’t care for leveling, it is just a time waster before you get to play the game, but idm people who enjoy nor do i look down upon them, but if leveling became like in classic with the current amount of content, and you would have to finish every zone, i would never level an alt again, and people would whine about them trying to sell level boosts indirectly.