If you want to achieve certain character progression and have a relative advantage, you need to do the work.
Honestly, I have no issue with the current system because it’s my choice to play this game the way I intend to. If there’s things i don’t like, oh well, because I want to be as powerful as the others.
No one can skip the necessary content(if they want the necessary character progression) and Blizz isn’t going to cater to casuals because they have a “we put this out there and you play” type deal.
So, best you can do is to play through it, play classic, or do something else.
That’s life.