I would argue that laymen are not the best people to judge technical aspects of software. Most users never come in touch with most of the features of a software of this type.
If you would ask me, the biggest changes since 1.7 were:
Offense records.
Bans per block bypass id.
Posting and file history.
Latest posts page.
More granular range bans.
Vastly improved caching. More performance, more reliability, more efficiency.
Better capcha options that are much harder to break.
A page with the latest replies in a thread instead of all replies.
Separate pages for reports and appeals.
More efficient RAM usage due to native functions.
Automatic full captcha for boards.
Thread merging.
Option to mass file deletion based on text matches.
More granular configuration as to who can bypass bans and blocks.
Archives.
Option to store files directly on disk instead of the db.
Added limits as to how many captchas users can request.
Specific board languages.
Warnings as a type of ban that is removed when the use sees it.
DNSBL integration.
Improved moderation form.
Added a redirect when threads are moved.
Added a redirect to the page the user tried to access but had to log in first.
Support for ipv6 for locations.
Individual file spoiling.
Templates can have optional elements that are filled from separate files.
Ability to ban reporters.
Ability to moderate directly from the report.
Added a page with information for media files.

But I may be biased.