I'm 82 at the moment, replaced almost half of my gear (both enhancement and resto - but I started with a smattering of T9 and ilevel 232 ICC 5-man HC drops, so it was to be expected).
If I were to mention ONE thing I loved about Hyjal (and only one) is the music. Simply. EPIC.
The flow and pace of the quests was quite seamless, flight points are handy (but we've been used to this since BC days) and there is some nice phasing too, in the (always) fashionable Northrend syle. What I liked best was the sense of progression, of accomplishment the quest sequence transmitted. It really felt as if you were doing something meaningful, fighting back the Twilight Hammer inch by inch and retaking Hyjal, culminating with restoring life to some of its charred areas and an awesome fight with Ragnaros.
It was a feel Northrend strove towards but didn't always achieve. Some of the Northrend areas and quests had this urgent, all-against-the-enemy-now impression to them (Dragonblight and Icecrow come to mind) but others felt a bit too relaxed and laid back and some were plain stupid from a reasonable lore standpoint (I'm looking at you, Argent Tournament).
What Hyjal does - and does good in my opinion - is to tell a single story through more than 120 quests. As you zone in from Moonglade on the green dragon's back you catch a glimpse of Ragnaros being summoned into the world by Deathwing - and know you need to hurry if you are to save anything of Hyjal. The quests convey this urgency: there is no idle flower - picking and game-hunting. Ysera lets you know upfront that the only viable chance to defeat the Twilight Hammer is to usher the Ancients back into the world - and from there there is no rest, only tight, awesome, lore-filled questing.
The closure is beautifully handled too even if I didn't see it coming. The "rescue Jarod Shadowsong" chain was quite long and I found myself immersed in this "become one of the Twilight Hammer" idea so much that I forgot what I was supposed to do. I expected it to wrap up the zone and just send me back to Ysera for a pat on the shoulder and a trip to another area.
Instead, I got to witness the revival - or whatever you would name it - of Cenarius (yep, that's the same guy I used a demon-blood crazed Grom Hellscream to kill, some 7 years, 1 game and four expansions ago) and then took an active part in the (temporary) defeat of Ragnaros. The threat is not removed (I'll need to get myself a 10-man for that), but Hyjal is safe. For now.
I didn't find any out-of-place random, immersion breaking quest in Hyjal. I am not a roleplayer, but if I were, I could have finished Hyjal and not go OOC a single time. The only downside was playing on release week, which meant the area was swarming with other players. Blizzard did a good job with the respawn rates, ensuring everyone got their kills and FAST, regardless of the crowd, but honestly, the speed at which mobs reappeared was a bit over the top most of the time. Think 3 instant respawns in a row, being unable to actually loot the damned things just because they kept popping back. But when the tide is gone, I'm sure I will enjoy Hyjal even more.
IN A NUTSHELL
The flavor quest: Getting bears down from the trees is simply overpowered in terms of fun.
The annoying quest: If you want to save the wildlife, make sure you bind your "Interact with target" key. Or maybe I'm just slow. Or my mouse is.
Most awesome quest ending: I'll only say this: Aessina. Floating up from the moonwell was great. Feeling like the hero that restored life to Hyjal beats dispatching armies of Scourge on any given day. On my all time favourites this comes very close to the Dragonblight "Muradin is alive" chain or Halls of Reflection (squee). And that is only because I am such a hopeless WC3 lover.
In the end, I received my shoulder pat and moved on to Orgrimmar to be catapulted in the Maelstrom. Or however you'd call that "hang on, we're going down a wortex" flight.
But that is a story for another time...
