I must stay I kind of agree about the lustre part. Especially when it comes to Legendary items and also some pieces of gear. The old guys just had more imagination and there seemed to be more of a 'manga' , shiny and big and badass feel .
Take for instance "Thunderfury, Blessed Blade of the Windseeker" or "Warglaive of Azzinoth" I liked them way more than the WOTLK legendaries where looks are concerned. Sure "Val'anyr, Hammer of Ancient Kings" & "Shadowmourne" caused nice effects when used that I really liked, but the weapons imo just never looked the part 2 me.
I had a long discussion with a GM friend I made, who's family member is apparently part of the Blizz design team.
What it came down to was basically that Northrend, LK , Icecrown/Stormpeaks is a gloomy place with a allot of dark evil and the way items & gear looked had allot to do with that and the mood it was all suppose to set. And I can somewhat see that in.
This was a while back and it ended with him saying we can expect things to be allot more shiny, old school and dragon-ish with CATA. IE paladins will look more "holy", "of the light" etc.
Time will tell so I'm going to stay positive, hope for the best and try and enjoy the new things comming.