Honestly I think it came down to the apparent fact that they realized the success of the game in the Velious-era, and attempted to expand and "improve" the game with an unnecessary and poorly implemented graphics overhaul, combined with derp-level extravagance (see: cats on moon with snake men and VT, which had next to no interwoven-lore before hand, almost as if they wanted to keep it some surprising yet secretive zone), all the while throwing content out that stressed time sink after time sink. (VT key, and once you finally get in....clearing VT trash for hours)
There was also a noticeable transition in the way raid encounters were mechanized, in that they became more focused on error correction or outright prevention to the point that you simply needed to find a strat to negate a particular trait of the encounter you were raiding, and the rest was cake. I believe Thott phrased it correctly when he stated that prior to Luclin, the aggregate hp levels of a raid would fluctuate based on AE's, adds, etc. to a much higher degree than they did once Luclin gear, spells, and the aforementioned boss mechanics were introduced.
Mobs began having ridiculous amounts of HP, yes, but the raid as a whole was exposed to less individual danger, lessening the likelihood of someone dying because they didn't have their resists at or near cap, or because the individual was an inbred degenerate who couldnt stay out of AEs and such. The only thing that increased was (typically) damage to the MT and a few individuals dealing with adds, with a possible quirky effect thrown in (Aggro reduction spells on Emp, for example, forcing you to pick up aggro on the fly). Other than that, I think most of you can agree that killer AE's (like VP AE's relative to kunark gear) had gone the way of the dodo at this point, with lower thresholds being created to prevent the thin line you'd otherwise walk when it came to simply being able to effectively engage raid targets. (Oh nos guys, an AE G. Flux in end-game Luclin that doesn't even possess a dispel or noticeable damage component.....how will we survive against this overgrown CoM goo?)
In short, end-game raids became dull and uninviting, with little room for ingenuity or creative adaptation. The only fun part was dealing with encounters that had previously been untouched or at the very least weren't well documented, as is the case for everything in the MMO communities these days. If I hadn't been raiding in such a setting with TR, I would've lost interest long before I did.
I will admit that there were some "fun" encounters post Velious, but nothing in Luclin stands out in my mind as particularly challenging or difficult, aside from gear, retardation, and patience (pre-nerf Seru~~ FU 2.5 hour CH rotations) checks.
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