Well, I know I don't need gear but

At this point in legion, I had paragon caches with mounts in them to chase for. Because people complained about this I have absolutely no reason to do these, plus I already have all the rewards from them anyway (except for the turtles and those are only toys anyway).

I guess that is the difference. In legion we had legendaries as well that were of interest in the emissaries.

Plus there was this, so I was expecting something different than I got last week in terms of rewards.