Untrue for speed raiding. I’m not even in a top 100 US and we use dozens of engineering items across the raid on multiple trash packs, and yes…vicidus lol. You think we all weren’t engineering in BWL or something?
As for the drums, you are missing that the competitive scene of classic raids is not progression, but timed speed clears. Drums wont be needed to clear any content, but if you want to clear it 1 min faster than your rival guild, it can make the difference.