Was it us who pushed for it or was it Blizzard?
I feel like it was Blizzard, inventing all these hoops for us to jump through to justify doing things like restricting Covenants, lowering loot drops.
Making us reliant on the weekly Vault. 
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It is if the M+ hamster wheel is your thing. People always want an easy ride so gear gating and scoring is always going to make it harder to get on the ladder. Had there been incentives for guild efforts this might have been less of a problem.
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I think the word elitist and toxic being misused more often than not has probably done just as much damage.
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Elitism will always be a thing when you combine challenge and multiplayer. Gear score goes all the way back to wotlk (tbc?). It’s the same complaint packaged differently. You will NEVER get rid of it. Find people who want to play your way, and hang out with them. Guilds have always been the answer.
When you opt to play in PUGs some of them can, and most of them will, screen you. It’s about increasing your odds of success. Some people don’t find failure fun and want to push.
Like when I am on my alts, I actively avoid ANYONE with inflated IO or gear for that key level. They often rush ahead and act/play in a way that is detrimental. It works all sorts of ways. When I am on my main I avoid low IO/Gear because the objective changes.
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I’d argue it’s the elitism that creates the toxicity.
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Wow players have always had some form of this since vanilla. M+ is the biggest cesspool experience right now. PvP is a pristine lake compared to the cesspool that is M+. Mainly its the people in higher keys past 15 that contribute to this cesspool.
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i don’t know…some of the bads assert more toxicity than the elite ones…most elite players i know are very quiet people…
OP was likely referencing loud mouths found in every bracket 
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I’d argue that people wouldn’t know actual elitism if it came up and bit them on the behind.
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The things you realize when you are consistently the last pick for teams in PE class…
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yes as elitism has totally ruined what the classics they released and wotlk will be just another ruined version from what original was and i blame blizz some as well as the players.
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Wrong. It’s the opposite. The higher you go the less toxic it becomes. As the pool shallows there are fewer people and as such your reputation matters more. Anger the wrong person and you may find yourself out of a lot of groups who recognize who you are. Successful people are more cooperative. Always have been. They know the value of not tilting people you are running with.
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Agreed. I mean 15s aren’t always perfect, but you probably couldn’t pay me to do below a 10 and maybe not below a 15.
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I disagree with you, Its definitely the higher keys. My experience has not been great. Ive had tanks screw up and blame dps because they themselves dont know how to hold aggro. Keep telling yourself that though
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The game is designed to play into the elitist attitude which a lot of gamers have, the attitude that “if you’re not playing my game exactly as I do (or claim to), you’re doing life wrong.” The multitude of systems and research required to optimize everything is what those players thrive on and find challenging. They also find challenging the fact that there are people in the game who don’t respect them and aren’t willing to try to be like them.
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Not surprising. Legit boosters usually won’t waste time running anything below a 15 since it’s not worth it when considering the low cost and time.
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People who are successful at anything generally know how to critically think and evaluate. It’s almost always the opposite of what you are saying. The people who blame others constantly don’t get very far because people don’t want to keep playing with them. Those who play well with others and are more cooperative end up more successful. It’s nearly always this way in business and in gaming.
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The players that are actually elite usually progress within their own communities.
It’s the want to be players that are toxic and they don’t last long in elite circles and blame others for their failures.
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Yeah it’s not so much about performance, I mean there is that as well… it’s more about people being INCREDIBLY nasty to each other. People thinking far more highly of themselves than is warranted.
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Exactly this. Good players are not going to put up with negative attitudes for long. They’ll find someone else who is good and has a good attitude.
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Bingo.
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