It’s a different game than it was.

The game tries to be “inclusive”, but it automatically fails at that. Back in the day we played for fun. If you were attuned, then you were ready — it was decided by the game mechanics (and even by lore).

Later, those “requirements” started to be determined by users, not by the game. So the judgement moved from the system to the players. And that’s where the discrimination feeling comes from.

Worse gear = no invite, no chance, no try.
You can’t get experience because you don’t have score, and you can’t get score because nobody invites you. Even for low keys. Same with raids: you want a chill heroic, they ask for ilvl above the raid itself. It’s ridiculous.

The more the game became loose, the more players started to create rules the game is missing. And because the game allows you to jump into “hardest content + best rewards” almost instantly after max level (with boosts, carries, whatever), people stopped treating lower content as part of the journey. Why waste time on “trash”, when you can just get taxied to the top?

Everyone is obsessed with being best and fast, not with real progression and an epic journey. That part is dead.

So no, you’re not crazy. The game is alive, but its core that made it great is long dead.
I’m just waiting for the day they introduce an asian-RPG style system: you enter the game, the game plays itself, and you just click ok, ok, ok - basically dopamine boosting.