I was REALLY upset when I came back to WoW at the start of BfA. I hadn’t played since MoP, and I have always leveled new toons (always healers) via dungeons. I love healing 5-man dungeons, and questing as a resto/holy-spec anything is a crappy way to level. So I dungeon. Always have.
The culture changed SO MUCH since MoP. When I expressed my horror at the inability to learn tanking or any kind of role via leveling dungeons because of the dynamics OP described, I was pretty roundly set down (although quite a few people were supportive and commiserated with me, as well). “If you can’t keep up, don’t blame it on the pugs.” That sort of garbage was mixed in with the sympathy and shared stories. I’m decent at what I do in this game, so I just let it go and lived for the good pug groups that come along and make the crappy ones fade away.
It is what it is…and what it is…is sad.
People used to learn their roles in 5-man leveling dungeons. They don’t anymore, and half the people on this forum seem pretty okay with that. The other half–like me–doesn’t. Again. /shrug. No one player can fix it, and there are a combo of reasons that it has become what it is (the speed-fest of toxic noobs on crack who wouldn’t care about learning their role even if they realized they had one).
I was promised it would change at 120. Yeah…no. Ha ha ha. Just no. It’s the same.
But there are good ones, and the good ones are still an absolute blast. I still heal, and I still pug. Guild and friend runs are better, but pugs are still viable fun. You just have to be patient enough to wait for the good ones.