I don't rly agree that the sentiment on the forum has been positive, I've played since ARR and it has always been negative people who take to the forums are usually way more negative than most people ingame.
This ofc goes for WoW too there are still more people who play and enjoy the game than negative people on the forum ( altho the negativity is more widespread and the numbers don't lie ).
If you actually listen to most of the complaints too on this forum it's very minor stuff in the end of the day that don't even come remotely close to the issues other games have.