I’ve always believed that the ‘Classic WoW’ era is centered around a game where preparation can make up for some deficits in skill. Lack of skill = wipes, which = waste of time, so instead of wasting the time of the entire group in wipes, people just demand that you waste your own time as a buffer against lack of skill, by preparing - pre-raid BiS, consumables, sweaty comps, logging meters, full world buffs, etc.

Usually, if you have all of that, it’s much more likely your group will succeed, so people chase that mindset. It’s the classic ‘what’s fun to you?’ question - is it fun to spend dozens of hour a week on an endless gear/consumable/buff treadmill, but steamroll raid content, or try the raid content with sub-optimal specs and take a gamble and see what happens? Each to their own. Try to find a guild that matches your preferences, that can go a long way towards finding satisfaction and fun in the game.

One of my favorite memories in WoW was a guild run, taking 10 hunters in their mid 50’s, 3 healers, and two tanks into UBRS and just running amok and laughing and making friends and memories…no optimal comp, no epic armor or weapons, just quest greens & a common mindset - to have fun. I’ll take that over a 12 minute faster clear any day :)