I still don't really see why dungeon/raid lockouts are unusual to some people (unless you're new to the genre). Shouldn't this be... the normal acceptable method in an MMORPG?

Besides, allowing players free roam is rarely a good idea. We generally eat up content WAY too fast. I guarantee... GUARANTEE that if 10 versions of coil-like content were released, and patches were staggered by maybe 6 months instead of the 3 currently, people would still be complaining there's nothing to do for endgame. Of course, there's also problems with allowing the players too much access to things. When there's a risk that someone will literally die from exhaustion from playing your video game, that kinda raises a flag that people can't quite control themselves, even when their lives are on the line.