Where the mobs in vanilla this tough?

[Halcyon702]

Sorry retail let people think it is normal to kill 20 elites in one spell

[Pottu]

During Burning Crusade, Blizzard released a big content patch that added many quests to the game - especially in Dustwallow Marsh - but also nerfed many, many elite mobs to normal status, increased slightly the XP gain rate and eased quest requirements. Players who only played from mid-BC onward, are thus usually surprised when they cannot get a quest at the level they did it "back in the day" or when they die to mobs, especially at low level and so on.

But as others said, hunter 1-10 is especially annoying. Training first aid can be quite helpful and do remember to learn all skills as soon as possible. Concussive shot at level 8 helps out quite a bit just when the going gets really tough.

[Archona]

it wasn't just players getting more powerful, people were starting to understand their classes...easier to kill things.