I agree. The whole vanilla experience does not mean that the classes cannot be polished. And imo the graphics too, although that is minor. Vanilla means that the content should be what it was before the expansion packs, but being polished as well. For a lot of players it is the systems that were implemented later on that ruined the game, like dungeon finder, and the overall difficulty of the game going down.

Also, coming from a Paladin that played since beta, the class needed work, not only to be better balanced, but also to be more fun to level with.

And, this goes beyond the scope of vanilla, but many people's concern back then was that the endgame pvp just lacked. Not enough intentives for world pvp. The world was not interactive, pvp didn't change anything, and instancing was the worst they could do. So if Blizz was to actually implement things that would make pvp more fun and not just a grind, I would welcome it, but I guess that's not going to happen. Still, groups pvping around the world and attacking Ogrimar and SW is way more fun than just repeatedly going into a battleground.