Speaking of that loathsome instance...
Has that instance become easier since gear now does play a role and assuming we're not talking of just blues.

I did part of it until two of my toons refused to follow my main but even my chars are well overgeared for heroics it just felt kinda the same prior to the gear-vehicle changes.

Buddy of mine and I just finished up the 20 min kill with 4 amber 1 ruby - was shockingly easy with gear scaling in place.

I personally find the 5 amber mix to be the winning combo if I'm going in alone.

As for follow issues - setup a key like so:

/focus [toon name]
/follow focus
/assist focus

tap that once you're on the drakes or need to retarget and you should be all set.