Might (might) be true for the high-end mythic guild, but certainly not for the regular Joe.
What would push him to play better ? Leveling is beyond a joke, 5-men are beyond trivial, LFR has the bosses nearly killing themselves to provide loot. The first time regular Joe will encounter any kind of gameplay will be if (not even when) he starts M+ or at least normal raiding.
But somehow he's supposed to be a better player than the guys who played at the time where you needed a modicum of gameplay for everything ?
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No, it was just a different paragdim.
Sure, the raid gameplay was pretty simplistic and easier, but that's because it was only a very small part of the game. 5-men and leveling gameplay were much more varied.