Now it's easy

Almost too easy; as Roguedubb said (in a comment), now you get XP from gathering herbs and ore, and there are low level fishing and cooking dailies (but pacifists can't do the ones that require killing).

Given the gathering bonuses, the balance has swung back to Horde, since Tauren get +15 herbalism and gather herbs faster than normal. Since the portals are gone from Dalaran and Shattrath, I figured a Shaman would be useful:
1) Astral Recall allows hearthing every 15 minutes (glyphed, 7.5 minutes)
2) Self-rez
3) Far Sight (and I've already bought an Ornate Spyglass) to look for gathering nodes
4) Ghost Wolf form (can gather herbs without changing)

Tauren gather herbs so fast, I can have 2 or 3 mobs beating on me and still get them. I have to be careful not to hit all the new tiny critters running around though, I almost hit one with my fishing rod.

To compare, Mainchenn took 1 week to get to level 10 20; Flos (Latin for "flower") hit level 20 after just 4 days, and she had very few quests she could do at the start. Level 1-5 was mostly from exploring XP.

She has the hard-to-find Herbalist's Gloves ready for level 22; with an enchant, she'll have +25 herbalism.

And, of course, the stereotype of a pacifist picking flowers all day works, too.