Enjoying Classic more than I thought and playing both

Let me preface by saying I have never been on the hate-wagon for BfA. I have two good guilds, play both factions and am lucky enough to like the way my classes play.I've been very much of the opinion "I hope people get what they want from Classic, but I probably won't play for more than fifteen minutes." leading up to launch. Mainly because I like the current version of the game and I really like features that won't be in Classic.I have to admit though, I am having WAY more fun than I thought I would. I wanted to break this down and I figured this was the best place to do it - sorry in advance because I am sure this is repetitive for some of you.Why I'm having fun:Not rushing to end game. I am genuinely enjoying the leveling experience more because I am not frantically pushing to the end game. I got to level 12 before logging off last night but I've gotten lost looking for quest objectives and haven't used any optimized routes so I've been spending a LOT of time running around.I love the simple, adventurer-focused scale. I'm a novice night elf with rudimentary weapons and gear. I do plausible amounts of damage (#s) for the stuff I am fighting and I get all the fantasy vibes without the ever escalating power creep of myself and of the conflict I'm facing. It feels more immersive this way, for me at least. I prefer being a nobody trying to be helpful than a general or a commander in a game where I have no real autonomy anyway.Crafting professions MATTER and actively help my character! I can make gear and items that I can actually use! This is silly but its HUGE for me and just feels super good to farm up stuff and craft it myself or through guildies into gear, bags, consumables, and support items.Meaningful progression with divergent paths. I love the old skill tree system and the play style choices it gives you. I love the feeling of finding a class trainer and unlocking abilities and managing skill points.The community enthusiasm! Not everyone in my experience has been friendly but almost everyone I've run into or seen in chat has been EXCITED and happy. It's nice to get a break from the bitching and moaning while I play a game I love.There's an understood "this class is good for X" which is consistent and doesn't really change. I do think the modern game has suffered from extreme class changes that didn't preserve a class identity across expansions/patches.There are no "seasons" and the game feels more like a persistent, living world. Things you do and farm can have a material impact for the life of your character.What I don't like:There are obvious QoL things that I don't think many people like which is why they were fixed in later versions of the game and I won't list them all but these are the main things that are getting under my skin as I am playing.Single-player tags. One of my favorite things about Mechagon is the value of spare parts, encouraging players to help eachother if they see someone fighting a mob because they'll get something out of it. Not only is that lacking but there are people deliberately griefing others in Classic and even when it's not intentional the over crowding can be pretty darn frustrating.I miss achievements. For dumb things like hugging squirrels or falling from great heights or doing stuff with a group - I think achievements are a really fun way to keep the game engaging and I miss them.Quest tracking. This one bugged me enough that I downloaded the add on Questie to help. Just knowing the general vicinity of an objective is SO nice.So. Much. Auto. Attacking. I know it gets a bit better with levels and abilities but the amount of passive play in combat is really not my favorite.Why I'm still playing retail:I really like WoW. There are things in the current expansion that I don't like but overall I enjoy playing World of Warcraft and I enjoy the new content and seeing what is next. I like NEW things and watching the world grow and change.It feels just as much like WoW to me as Classic. The humor, the "feeling" pressing buttons and running around, the overall systems. To me, it feels like the same game even if much of it has changed.I like the more complicated / fast paced mechanics and spells and play style.I love the artistry that goes into the graphics, the music, the quests, the cinematics and voice acting. I genuinely appreciate the love and passion that goes in to developing all the incredible details of this game.8.2 is one of my favorite mid-expansion patches ever. I love the tangible goals, things to collect, and I think essences are awesome and wish they were there from 8.0I love Mythic+, I love the raids of this expansion and I love my characters and the YEARS of time and effort and love that have gone into them.I genuinely hope that the game designers can see what people love about Classic and bring some of those elements into the future state of the game. Particularly the more RPG elements and class / spec diversity and specialization.I feel very "meh" about Classic+ that expands into BC and other expansions. I don't like the idea that the future of WoW is in the past. I hope there can be really good lessons learned to make the "retail" version of the game better and capture more of the magic again.