Changing the gapcloser from "costs 20 Gauge, 10s CD" to "3 stacks, 30s CD per stack" was also a mistake that made the job worse, and this is a hill I am willing to die on.
WAR had a lot more things going on in HW/early SB, reducing the class to Fell Cleaves does it a major disservice.
Overall though, I agree with the OP. The devs keep sanding down the ($job) gameplay with each patch and expansion.