The problem is that you’re missing the forest for the trees. Yes, the elite raiders like Method et al are an extremely small percentage of the platerbase. But that’s irrelevant. What IS relevant is what this small niche of players leave in their wake. Like a tiny stone dropped in a pond, their ripples spread far and wide. What this means is the hordes of plebs that actually DO make a difference numbers wise, look at what this small niche does and vainly attempt to emulate them to get whatever perceived advantage they can get. It’s basic human phycology. Will these hordes of plebs get anywhere near e.g. Methods success? Of course not. They probably won’t even step foot into a heroic raid. But again, none of that is relevant.
All that matters is that they’re seeing a group of highly successful players making certain choices and therefore emulating them to attain some vague advantage even if they’re too stupid to ever properly leverage it.