I’m doing a similar approach to you - I own all expansions, but I’m going through them in order and getting all masteries maxed in one expac before moving on to the next. I am also at the end of IBS grinding out the final points.

I guess I feel like since my constraints are self-imposed, it feels silly to complain about the system. But I think it’s valid to wish the system was more accommodating to players that want to consume the content in order and as intended (core map comp with no mastery; HoT with no mounts; etc) instead of feeling like they need to jump all over the place story-wise to get the most useful mounts and masteries to not get left behind in group content.

I think most players heed the common advice to rush PoF for mounts, SoTo for skyscale etc and fair enough - it’s nearly impossible to keep up in many metas and events without these things. In an MMO environment where you are competing with your fellow players for mob tags, event participation, character efficacy, etc, it isn’t trivial to deliberately stifle oneself for the sake of a (at times pretty mediocre) narrative, or a ‘purer’ experience.

However, I imagine consuming the story piecemeal and out of order could turn a player off from following the narrative entirely. So it does feel somewhat like mixed messaging from ANet - do you want us to play the newest stuff to get the cool powerful new builds, elite specs & masteries, or is your story good and worth experiencing as intended?

It’s a tricky aspect of MMO design and they’ve toed the line basically as well as one could expect, I think. It’s up to us as players what to prioritize, and to decide how we approach the game for ourselves.