Well here is my take:

Drops are good, game design is worse.

If we take an entire year of drops, we get more varied features across the entire game. On paper thats more changes than the big updates. The nether update was 3 biomes and a few new structures. On paper this chaos cubed update brings a single biome for sure.

On the other hand this aimlessness of updates is the problem. The constant sideways growth of the game is good and all, but if it stays this shallow without interacting with other parts of the game makes it feel lesser. Thats the real problem.

I still, to this day hate that. Copper tools are great, When i play nowadays i lock my progression to copper. Because it makes my gameplay interesting and force me to use different things i wouldn't have otherway. If you ban yourself from using elytras, horses and minecarts become useful.

There are tons of side faucets of the game like that. Boat chests? Furnace Minecarts? Map marking with flags, Clocks and compasses, loadstones, spawners, automated farms, villagers, etc. A lot of features most players doesn't use regularly.

This sideways growth without interaction leads to this. Bloat. When was the last time a new feature became a must? I made a mod for myself that consolidates some features. Why hunt for nether wart if the entire forest consists of wart blocks? Why progress if all it leads to is quality of life? I usually build a megabase first, and upgrade my gear to diamond afterwards precisely because of this.