Yes - also the essences stopped me from playing my alts. I dont want to grind / farm content for the 3rd or 8th time. ( Having 8 lvl 120 )
You hit level 120, after 1 day you are ilvl 400 and then you can `t even get your raid / mecha essence. No one would invite you with that ilvl / lowneck & essences.
My guild does weekly hc clears for alts & also carrys weekly keys, but we also want to be effective, which means we can`t invite everyone ´s low ilvl alt.
Farm benthic, pearls, essences, azerite power, azerite random pieces, do wwar campaign etc. ... it `s just anoying. It takes weeks to have a decent geared alt.
My holy paladin alt bought 3x 445 azerite pieces - 3x without glimmer of light trait - which means i can just scrap them or use for ret ( which i`d never play in m+ / raids )
Saving 200k titan residuum is also stupid, i dont want to wait ~7-8 weeks to buy a specific item on an alt.
Didnt get a specific trait your spec needs? Well, good luck in 2 weeks!
All this effort to make your char feel powerful / enjoyable is insane.