Honestly back then we didn't know any better; hunters need ammo? Well duh they have guns, bows, and crossbows which obviously need ammo. Gotta extinguish those fires in MC? Well you gotta adventure out and find the essence that will quench them. Can't afford your new skills? Play the game more and you'll earn enough money eventually.

Back then you didn't think "Boy, I wish this talent tree only had active and passive abilities with absolutely no multi-point modifiers." Those draw backs weren't things you actively thought needed to go away, you just kinda played the game for what it was and knew that all good things had their own consequences you'd have to deal with.

All of this being said, I may just be a biased individual with a biased opinion. I played during vanilla and I played Nost and I enjoyed both greatly. I still very much enjoy the game, but the differences are that the game now is very clearly designed as a "video game" as opposed to being a living world you have to explore and get a good few cuts and bruises in along the way to figure it all out.

People tend to act like minor annoyances are total deal breakers but that's not the case at all. It's like looking at Majora's Mask and Ocarina of Time. Is ocarina of time better because you don't have to deal with the fucking moon and the three day timer? Or is Majora better because of these major overarching gameplay mechanics? It's all ENTIRELY subjective and with the multi-million person strong player base WoW has had over this last decade, opinions are going to be strong and wildly contrasting.

I guess the overall answer to your "Why?" question however is just "Because that's what I thought was most fun."