After reading so many of the comments, I realized that I probably don't find the quilts in QNM pleasing because so many are made from fabric lines. In the "good old days", most of the quilts were made by independent quilt artists using their own stash. Not only were they talented artists, but they weren't limited to the fabric choices in a particular line of fabric.
The comment about putting in so much show information and compressing the show pictures to a very small size gave me an aha! moment too. I remember enjoying show information in the old magazines, but there was a lot less of it and the photos were bigger.
As for elements necessary for the "perfect" quilting magazine, I think the old QNM had all of them. I just don't seeing this new version surviving when I have difficulty finding even one interesting quilt/article/technique in the new issues.....