Should transmogrification change the way lockouts function?

I've admitted to my transmogrification habit on a few occasions now. One of the things that it's brought to my attention is that I really, really hate heroic lockouts on content I can easily solo. Like all Burning Crusade and Wrath of the Lich King heroic five man dungeons, for instance. Let me tell you a true story.

I have been running heroic Azjol-Nerub once a day for a week now. Every day, I zone in, kill everything in my path like an unstoppable juggernaut of death, reach Anub'arak himself and crush his carapace with wrenching blows from my two gigantic swords, then peel open his husk to find the same exact drops, none of which are a plate helm. It's annoying, because it only takes five minutes to do but I can't devote, say, a half hour to doing it six times because it's a heroic and locks me out for an entire day. I find this absurd. I especially find it absurd because it's not as if older heroics get a lot of at-level use nowadays. People who ding 80 don't queue up for heroic Azjol, they go to Hyjal or Vashj'ir.

Nowadays, these older dungeons serve purely as repositories of fashion, clothing dispensers we run in order to assemble a look. Well, okay, some of them also serve as a source of frustration when a mount doesn't drop. At any rate, what purpose does it serve to lock up these dungeons behind the mantle of 'heroic' and apply the lockout to them when no one runs them when they're anything like a challenge anymore? There's already a system in place that keeps you from running a dungeon too many times within an hour, that should be sufficient for these dungeons. I understand leaving raid lockouts in place, but not five mans.

Yes, there could be twinking imbalances here for people who froze their XP, but frankly, if some level 70 or 80 twink can get a level 85 or 90 (in Mists) to carry him to gear, it doesn't really bother me. We've already stated numerous times that the game isn't balanced for PvP at lower levels, let's embrace it. These dungeons aren't heroic anymore, let's let reality reflect the changing game and more importantly let's let me get my freaking hat.

Instead, though, Blizzard decided to limit phasing. They probably want to make it easier for players to be able to quest together. A zone without phasing means that players can help a friend with a quest even if they've already completed it. Still, we're talking about a starter zone so you really don't need help. Furthermore, even if you're the same level as a friend, you won't necessarily be able to play together because the questline for the zone is very linear. You'd ultimately have to wait for a friend to catch up to your progress before you could work on quests together.

The individual quests just aren't very compelling, either. There's one cool moment where you fly out to Shen-zin Su's head to speak with him but the visuals are the only real it's a memorable quest. None of the quests in the Wandering Isle is as memorable as say, the Battle for Gilneas City or the fight against Volcanoth. Most of the pandaren quests are simply about fetching items or killing enemies. While you could reduce most MMO quests to such basic descriptions, Blizzard has done a better job elsewhere of dressing up these basic quest types and making them more engaging.

Pandaren are unique in that they can join either of the game's two factions. Ultimately players find out that Shen-zin Su is ailing because an Alliance airship has crashed into its side. Players meet both the Alliance soldiers and their escaped Horde prisoners. This should, essentially, introduce players to the war between the factions which is central to the expansion's plot. However, you don't get a strong sense of the conflict between the sides; in fact, they put their differences aside temporarily to help Shen-zin Su heal. I don't think you've been given a proper introduction to either faction by the time you're asked to choose between them.

WoW has come a long way since 2004. The pandaren starter zone is leagues better than most of the quests that shipped with the original version of the game. However, it feels like a downgrade compared to the content of earlier expansions. Players will still level up pandaren characters because they're the new hotness but I'm not sure they'll remember much about the Wandering Isle.