What about XYZ's was broken? I admit they were very powerful, but they also made the game better at points. It allowed for generic outs to cards like Gravity Bind and Fairy Box -> Frustrating cards.
Also, what about GX era was good? Infact, what about classic was good? With all due respect, yugioh was expensive and hard to play back then. To find locals and tournaments was a pain, and we had decks like D.A.D and Chaos retailing for over 1000 dollars! It's a bit better now a days. Also, formats like 2010 edison are fun synchro formats that are genuinly good to play.