Until all these 3rd party sites stop posting “Tier list” from content creators, we are never going to get a relax fit for anyone. At the end of the day, 99.9% of the people on these forums will never have to worry about where the “meta” actually matters.
Edit: Just looked at WoWhead first time today, man look at all those tier list they posted today, holy crap lmao…
The average WoW player needs structure to feel comfortable.
Their knowledge could be wrong, but just thinking they know something keeps them secure.
But I am a sucky player and need that leg up.
And need your leg up too to cover me.
(That went weird fast 
)
Chasing the “meta” has been a thing in WoW long before now. I know it was a thing at least as far back as WOTLK and it’s probably older even than that.
It was terrible then, and it’s terrible now.
Unfortunately it’s here to stay.
Yeah, it kinda did lol.
Never gonna happen
The people that care about the meta don’t want to “do fine” they want the best they can get.
I went Maldraxxus Fury War which is way off meta, nobody cared or noticed because I was still dishing out excellent parses. Meta heads, more like meat heads. 
Anything is the best you can get when you’re playing low end content
Your class will never be the deciding factor
That’s not how that works.
It’s not something specific to WoW, any game I play I’m going to lookup what the best is even for a single player game I will want the best armor, the best weapons and the best talents. As far back as I can remember to stuff like NBA Jam
I was playing meta 
.
Rather than asking player base to change why don’t you ask blizzard to balance their classes
Classes are more balanced than they ever have been.
Literally all classes/specs are competitive except at the very highest level.
The issue is that the game has been designed by and for people who would do anything to chase the meta and maximally optimize their gameplay. People who just want to improve so they can play better and have more fun don’t fit anywhere in this concept, because they will never be good enough. And hardcore min maxers are the minority in every successful MMO.
Well…it’s been said already, but you will be expected to pick the “best” options that you have in more competitive content. Learning to play better means that you need to start in the low keys and slowly grind up. That path exists for everyone.
so many people salty that they can’t control how other people make their groups
if you don’t like how other people are doing it - do it yourself.
Idk how someone wouldn’t get better at frost mage. It is one of easiest specs in the game to play. Maybe because it is dominated by it seems over half the mage population you are bound to have one in your group who isn’t as proficient. 
Not everybody has the goal of being “the best”. The majority of purchasers play the game for entertainment, not because they think it is making their lives or the world better to play the game like a full-time job. Designing the game so there is no meaningful content for anyone but min-maxers is an issue, because 80% of all successful MMO players are casuals.
Even the casual players min/max to a certain degree. I rarely run into people with ridiculous talent choices or the “wrong” legendary. People have been pushing high keys and doing mythic raiding as off meta classes and specs for years. It’s not this obstacle that you think it is.
I don’t consider choosing the wrong talents based on their feelings to be “min maxing”. It seems as though you think everybody - 100% - who plays the game is a min-maxer, so we’re not really discussing the same topic.
It’s not about following the meta. It’s about me getting dozens of DPS applicants and you being far from the best DPS applicant among them.
As long as the perfect combo exists, people will want it or as close to it as possible.