The WoW forums in 2005 (after even most casuals had leveled) were non-stop complaints of casual v hardcore and raid or die! The armor quest stuff was a direct response to that because there was 0 real small group progression.
This was still true even in the days of badge gear!
This "there was a great era for casuals in the past" is pure historical revisionism, imo! m+ added better casual progression than any system ever has, you can get max gear with only a few hours per week.
(None of this is to say that the game can't improve on this stuff. But casual content stinks in ESO and SWTOR too imo, it's just the same things over and over again, all so easy it is snooze worthy. Do you really want to grind Hammer Station from 2011 for the best gear in the game in 2022? We need more stuff like Visions or something, or even torghast challenges)