I got my highest team to 80 and haded off to hyjal all excited to try the new content. What i like is the quests have some story to them. Thats about all i like.

What i dont like:
Linear.
Cannot skip collection quests.
Zones seem devoid of people - is this because of phasing, where people may be there but we cant see each other due to being at different points in the quest chain?

I really really enjoy my highest team. Thats why its the highest one. I put it together at 60, just like all the others i have. The toons have great synergy and variety. But i had to force myself to get through all those collection quests. Sometimes they were so irritating i logged out before completing themx5 because i couldnt force myself to go on anymore at that time - that is not a good sign!! Then id have to force myself to pick it up again because i knew a painful collection quest was waiting.

I tried the first cata instance at 81 and got stomped by the first boss. His earthquake aoe would 1shot half my team, including the priest. I finished hyjal at 82. Deepholm is the next zone for me and the teams hearth is set to the starting spot. I may try the first cata dungeon again since i got like 10k more health on each toon just by going from 81-82.

So these be my questions three:

1. Are all the cata zones similar to hyjal in the way they progress (linear and full of get 10 thingy quests)?
2. Is phasing making the zone seem devoid of other people beyond the inn?
3. Are there nonprofession, nongathering dailies like those in grizzly hills wherein assuming i get so fed up with gathering and phasing i cant stand it anymore that i can just log into the team, do some dailies and switch to another team until the next day and get to 85 that way?

Yes, i know number three isnt the way to play the game in an ideal situation. I will probably end up playing through on my first team. But so far i find cata worse than wotlk in terms of leveling - at least there i could SKIP the gathering quests.