So it looks like this has been rolled out for version 1.19. The HTML is possible option has been dropped but the fixing baselines in PNG output has not. This means that a lot of expression like <math>x^2</math> will render too low in the page . Previously simple expressions like this would have been rendered in HTML mode which would have got the base-lines right, so we have ended up in an overall drop in quality.--Salix alba (talk) 17:04, 1 March 2012 (UTC)
Topic on Talk:Requests for comment/Reduce math rendering preferences
Agree. The 'HTML if simple' options should have been retained.
See also rev:104498#c30475 and bugzilla:31406#c10.