I agree. I haven't played since a month or so after launch and I remember the low levels being much more difficult. Mana and HP regen was slower and pulling extra mobs usually resulted in death. The current progress feels much easier.
I played on another vanilla server and find that experience to be much more along the lines of vanilla wow. Slower HP and mana gain, mobs hit harder and loot is more sparse.
What changed recently? When did rates go up?