I suppose we can assume that the hearthston is not on cooldown (i normally use mine to get back to IF at the very end of the day so it would be charged). But at the end of the day - all it does is take you back to your inn, which is likely miles away from wherever it is you are going. I can't imagine people doing it unless they are outnumbererd. And then its paladins who scream "you wusses" when they fight against 2-3-5 people.
We also shout "you wusses" a lot when the horde leg it as they feel they are loosing. It should be better with hammer of wrath now, but before it was very depressing. You do your best to defeat someone, using up all your cooldowns and everything for the fight - they just turn to travel form and bugger off
Reminds me of a time when i was showing off my paladin at a friends house. Imagine the unfamiliar interface, with none of my mods. And theres a shaman nearby. So i go after him to show my friend how melee works - and the shaman turns to travelform and starts making circles around me. I had to type /chicken a good few times before he started fighting. I almost lost cos of the stupid lack of selfcast mod, but managed to pull through and was about to kill him when he changed to travelform and started legging it!!! On his last percents of health!!! Bastard! I am chasing him drinking my swiftness potion but he is too far. In desperation i throw my Ez-thro dynamite II - he seems already out of range. But what do i see!!! The dynamite got him LOL!!!
P.S. Oh, i believe there was a friendly griphon we ran into. But i did have interface issues slow me down so its sort of fair.