Has it always been like this or...?

[Avenger]

This is really more the fault of developers than players.

I understand it sucks and that was my experience too. Basically the way the game is made makes you miss out the grand finale all the story is building up to and then later see bits of it in a journal. Not epic to put it mildly.

Although SE is certainly to blame for the long-ish cutscenes, the fact that they're skippable, the lack of iLvl sync (leading to overgeared players steamrolling everything) and making it possible for new players to be locked out of boss arenas, I would say that the bullying speedrunners are also to blame.

I really hope I don't become so selfish and impatient that I would want to ruin the climax of the main story for a new player who wanted to actually experience and enjoy the game narrative in context.