With GNOME 3.6, the applications menu has been hidden from the less experienced user and is nearly unusable: To select an application from the menu you first have to move the mouse to the top left corner to enter the overview, now you have to go all the way to the bottom of the favourites bar to bring up the applications (if you have actually figured out that the last box in the bar is a symbol for the applications menu. I don't find that obvious at all). And now, if you want to enter a submenu, you have to traverse the entire screen again, this time horizontally. 

This is just way too much effort for a such a basic action as selecting and launching an application. The design from GNOME shell 3.4 was better in that respect that the applications menu was 1. easier to identify and 2. you could reach it with less mouse movement.

To me this seems like another instance of making simple things difficult for no reason.