An idea on how to improve early gameplay?

[Shurrikhan]

but... if dungeons don't play that way at endgame I'm not sure it's a good idea. The early stuff should ideally reflect how we play later and unless later dungeons need those skills too it'll ultimately make the endgame feel more hollow as those elements fall away.

Right, but is "run to end, spam AoE, run to end, spam AoE" exactly the content we want? Is that experience not already hollow?

If it's a matter of time constraint, note that the rewards can absolutely be increased in proportion to the additional time taken.

At present, though, any variety in playstyle is effectively just a trap that causes considerable tension between players. What if weren't? What if it weren't all just an illusion of depth or variety?