Ok so after fucking around on CoA for a few weeks and I finally "get" it.
What they've actually done vs what they wanted to do with this server.
What they did:
21 new classes each with 3-4 fully implemented specs ie like 70 classes. This is and of itself is an incredibly feat, every single class is fully implemented and feels good and nearly every single spec has a place. Sure some are better than others ultimately but it really is about finding a class fantasy + archetype + playstyle that meshes with what you want to do, ie evil + Tank + proc based rotation.
Each class represents a various NPC faction/class fantasy. I think they realized that it was a bigger fish than they could handle so they've kinda changed some of the names to be more generic but at their heart each class is an NPC faction and that class has 3-4 builds typically representing everything, tank, heals, ranged/spell dps, melee dps. Each class is pretty much their own ecosystem, if that makes sense.
Now they've been focused on classes and class balance and not really on quests/the world/etc so they ended up just merging baselines with Bronzebeard and borrowing all their changes (minus mystic enchants, there is no mystic enchants on this server) but you can see the foundation of what they actually wanted to do was very much not "classic" at all.
What they wanted to do:
redo races/starting areas/factions/questlines so that the classes are actually the thing that they represent. Like Necromancers are Cult of the Damned/Scourge aligned, they should start in eastern plaguelands at stratholme or something. Cultists are worshippers of the old gods they should start in AQ. Blood Mages are vampire/werewolfs and should start at Shadow Fang Keep, Venomancers should start in hinterlands at the Shadra' shrine, Templars are scarlet Crusaders they should start at Hearthglen, etc.
All the classes are the various NPC factions that we see in the game, there's "good", neutral/nature, and evil. Troll witch doctors aligned to Black Rock spire, elven rangers aligned to Quel'Lithien. Knights of Xoroth should start the game coming out of an altar of storms having been summoned by warlocks there (they are demons from the planet xoroth who are possessed in the corpses of the fallen here on Azeroth), felsworn followers of the burning legion...
They really need to remake at least 3 "hub" main cities, good, neutral, and evil and remove all horde/alliance faction entirely. The classes you play are the NPC factions, the alliance and horde cities should be turned into content, just like all the NPC cities/hubs are really just content for everyone else.
3 hub cities doesn't really make sense of course, from an RP standpoint it should be more like EQ where starting cities are based more on religion than race (at least, for human/half elfs). they should have like 15 cities, there's some cross over of course but like Cultists of the old gods wouldn't align with cult of the damned, etc.
Which I think is why they haven't gotten around to doing that, that is a monumental task