It isn't the WoW players. It's the raider mentality.

This sort of environment about raiding is precisely why I don't do it. Learning to do new content and wanting to have the best gear and the like isn't a bad thing. So it is frustrating to see so many people try and gatekeep it under some misguided belief that raiders with experience are somehow better people than those who aren't the same.

Raiding became toxic a long time ago in MMOs and here is no different.