This is an old account but I rolled up a character so to speak around 10 years ago.
I enjoyed early Pathfinder APs, Runelords, Kingmaker, Skull and Shackles, but I have very little idea what has come out since Reign of Winter.
I have not really been interested in new character splat books since Ultimate Magic/Combat/Campaign. Basically missed everything for the last 5 years or so, before 5E landed (I went to OSR around then).
Early on I saw Pathfinder as 3.5, when they started churning out a lot more books I had already been there and done that for 2E and 3.5 and did not want to go through it again.
I really liked the Inner Sea World Guide and still read it a bit and rate it up there with the 3.0 FRCS for campaign setting quality.
So what have the new APs been like in quality? I liked Savage Tide for example and the previous AP's mentioned I generally do not like techno magic, APs reliant on new splat book material, and heavy dungeon hacks (smaller dungeons fine, Temple of Elemental Evil not so much). I like adventures like X1 Isle of Dread, early The Night Below (pt 1), various old Paizo era Dungeon magazine adventures. Simple is also good although a good plot is appreciated and can be complex I mean simple as in doesn't require extra reading, easy to run, not to much in the way of new magic items etc.
Just curious on thoughts of the new ones.
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Hell's Rebels is excellent--run a rebellion in city-based campaign. The players have the initiative, a lot like in Kingmaker and Skull and Shackles in that way. Good mix of heists, RP, and dungeon crawl. The Ultimate Intrigue book actually integrates well into this campaign, by the way, but it's not necessary, given your aversion.
I'm really liking the Iron Fang Invasion, thus far--a really great first book at least. Great opening scene, then a very simple mechanism for handling 20 or so NPCs that you're trying to save. Some outdoor exploration, which you seem to like.
You'd probably like Ironfang Invasion, easily one of the best APs of all time.
I think Strange Aeons and Ironfang Invasion are two of the strongest APs that Paizo has ever put out, and Ruins of Azlant (which I admittedly haven't read as in-depth) is similar.
In regards to SA and II, both APs do a much better job of encounter pacing then previous adventure paths—they're challenging, but they lack meatgrinder sections and do a much better job foreshadowing villains and making those enemies personal to the PCs then prior adventure paths.
No meatgrinders?
If characters ain't been killed,
then players ain't been thrilled.
If players ain't bawlin',
the DM ain't ballin.
If a villain hasn't won,
then no one's havin' fun.
If . . . well, you get the idea. I'm just sayin' I like a ground sausage every once in a while.
Well, after 2 years and 3 months, we finish Giantslayer this coming Sunday. I enjoyed it, but some of it was rather boring.
We start Ironfang Invasion immediately - session 0 for Ironfang begins after the boss fight (there are only 3 encounters left for us, and we play for about 7 hours typically). Ironfang reads great, and I don't think I need to modify it as much as I did with Giantslayer. It should be more difficult, too.
My other group is playing Curse of the Crimson Throne, which doesn't really meet the standard of "new AP," even though it is the anniversary version. We previously played Mummy's Mask, which I really liked, but the campaign petered out a year ago due to life drama. We tried to start up a Hell's Rebels campaign, which I would have loved to get going, but that campaign was cursed and never got past the first session. What I read of Strange Aeons was pretty cool, too, as well as Ruins of Azlant, though I doubt we'll play either. The only reason we aren't playing RoA, however, is because I won't have all of the materials I need till the pawns come out in May, and we'll be ready this Sunday.