I get where you’re coming from OP but the post is still unreal to me. I’ve been playing MMOs since the 90s, and by far the best part of the genre was (emphasis: was) the other people.
Blizzard forgot how important the social fabric is to the genre, and the players forgot how to make positive social connections in a game.
So many people are logging in for increasingly fast dopamine hits. Queue-> teleport-> rush through the dungeon → no one talks → get reward → click ilvl upgrade. The whole experience is just so damn hollow.
The random gear I get is insignificant. What was much more impactful, memorable, and entertaining was meeting some of the zany characters I’ve encountered over the years, having my whole guild come out to celebrate assembling Rhok’delar, helping my friends learn how to play for the first time, getting to know my online friends as real human beings, etc.
It’s crazy that we have entire forums of like-minded people hating the community so much that it borders on sociopathy. It’s ironic isn’t it? So many people spending so much energy hating the situation and being unwilling to do anything about it.
WoW is one of the worst offenders when it comes to this. FF14, ESO, GW2, and likely others still have real communities. WoW does only in small, nearly invisible pockets these days.
All that said, I think they should reward solo players. But believing that people are the bane of MMOs is myopic and ignorant.