First, it's a bit unfair to DF to compare the current state of DF to say the entire breath of an expansion of SL, BFA or even Legion.
Take SL, did you really have that many things you could do in early SL? Renown progression was capped, The Maw would kick your butt and kick you out if you stayed too long (thanks Eye of the Jailer).
Second, were the various systems in Legion, BFA, SL actually optional?
- Legion: Artifact Power = mandatory grind, Legion Legendaries (until later patches with BLP and currency vendor) = grind all activities (WQ, Emissaries, World Boss, Dungeons, Raids) for small chance that a Legion Legendary might drop.
- BFA: Heart of Azeroth = mandatory grind but couldn't spam short M+ dungeons
- SL = mandatory rep grind to unlock soulbinds sockets then you had to get the actual conduits from raid, M+ or world bosses
And that was just the initial launch of those expansions. Later on in BFA we had essences that we not only had to unlock but also do X to level them up. Also later in SL, we had Shards that we not only had to collect but also get the shard socketed gear pieces and then also had to do weekly Korthia dailies to level up those shards. Additionally in SL, we had to continue the renown grind because then we had EMPOWERED soulbind sockets. Moreover, you weren't done when you finished 1 Covenant. Because of players wanting the "freedom" to be any and all covenants, you had to regrind renown to 80 for as many Covenants as necessary per your spec and content you were doing. Some classes/specs required Covenant A for raids, Covenant B for M+ and Covenant C for PvP.
DF might not have options but when it comes to those older systems from Legion/BFA/SL, it's better off without them. There's no FOMO about not doing X each day or Y each week. Yes that does mean the "end-point" for some players may come earlier but that's ok. Nobody says you have to stay subbed the entire expansion. You can choose to unsub for a while until new content drops.
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That's a feature for the 10.2.5 patch. QoL "improvements" don't come until much later in the expansion cycle.
In fact, you can see on the PTR that we are getting an "envoy" system to help grind renown faster.