Generally I'm anti-LFR because of the mentality of the playerbase that plays it. LFR as a concept isn't bad, but those who play within it turn me away.
I used to be a hardcore raider from BC all the way up to Legion (BFA honestly is ocean-wide yet puddle deep in terms of content). I've tried running in LFR even just to see how well I could do and in helping others. I've also played casually when I didn't feel like putting in the time/effort was worth it, but I also didn't expect to see content because I paid a subscription.
Most of the LFR crowd generally holds one to all of these mindsets:
- "I don't have time to raid"
- "People who raid in guilds are elitist pricks"
- "I have a life/job/wife,etc. and can't be arsed to raid on a schedule"
- "I don't like dealing with other people/I have social anxiety issues"
- "I pay $15 to play however I want to"
To which are pretty asinine when it comes to playing an MMORPG. For those who say "I don't have time to raid" or "I have a life/job", in reality they're saying "I don't have the patience". They want to see the content without putting in the effort to actually being part of a group/researching what it takes to kill on pretty much any other difficulty. And it's really illogical.
WoW has never been hard, hell even Mythic difficulty raids aren't hard if someone has a modicum of critical-thinking skills (which most of us should have assuming we're in high school or functioning adults). Especially with addons such as Deadly Boss Mods or GTFO. Of course, this isn't always the case and some things are genuinely unbeatable (see: Mythic Kil'jaeden or vanilla C'thun) but those things are exceptions.
Now I get it, a lot of people don't have much time to do anything, especially us adults with families to look after. But much like anything, whether it be in real life or in a video game, without some kind of investment you can't really expect decent return/reward.
Many of the people I've seen in LFR's are the people who don't play nice with others/don't want to. And that's fine, their prerogative. But don't expect raid-equivalent gear when you aren't willing to invest time into earning it. Seeing content has never really been the issue before either; people could see content via streams and YouTube videos (or WarcraftMovies when it was around) of others willing to dedicate themselves to either being the best or getting the best.
People prioritize things they want to be good at. Plainly put, people who consider raiding a non-priority in a game shouldn't expect to walk into it and steamroll it, let alone walk out with best of the best gear or some semblance of it. Some people have natural talent (or amazing luck) but for the rest of the world it's hard work and determination to get the best. But I've seen some of the biggest egotistical players come into raids with missing enchants/gems, incorrect gems (AGI gems on a Warlock, for example), refuse to learn/accept criticism, and/or simply not give a damn yet demand to be treated like someone who's devoted time and effort to getting the best, usually for reasons that have absolutely nothing to do with the game itself.
But let's be real: People wouldn't do LFR if there weren't rewards attached to it. It's simply "rewards without the challenge". If it was really about seeing the content, they'd be fine with no rewards as long as they got to participate. Sure, there are those who are like this, but they are a minority of a minority. The majority of players, however, use this as a way to get gear with minimal effort. A majority of them have a much time as others to play if they wanted to get into Normal/Heroic/Mythic content, but don't care or don't want to put in the effort to earning it but would gladly have their hand out for the gear.
TL;DR: The player base is what generally makes people anti-LFR. LFR as it currently stands promotes anti-social/selfish behavior which is antithetical to the concept of raiding and MMO gaming in general.