I think you could easily argue that the content in terms of polish and art direction has improved expansion to expansion. The game however? I'd say it is equally easy to argue it went the opposite way.
It all started that fateful pre-TBC patch that handed out the top end PVP epix out to all for pittance - which nobody thought much of at the time because hey, TBC in a couple of weeks. But it began a pretty horrible trend towards maximizing reward whilst minimizing effort, charting from the removal of attunements, the constant content nerfing and culminating in such things as LFR.
Blizzard basically has taken up an ethos that a hard worked progression in their games is an evil. Which is a damn shame because they're one of about 2-3 developers I can think of that have it completely perfect when it comes to how responsive and tight the games feel to play. Just such a shame they are now almost exclusively producing vacuous ****e for lowest common denominator gamer.
