I'm not sure how much of that was a reply to me, and how much was a reply to the topic of pulls in general.

All I'd want to add is that end-game content is not the only thing in existence. It's unfortunate that they have long since ditched the effectiveness of CC abilities. So while I'd agree it's always better to AoE if you're able, I'd disagree that AoE is necessarily faster when you have a small group. Particularly in low level situations where CC is still very much viable. Rather than knocking down the big threat first (which usually has higher HP), it's easier and faster to CC the big threat and wipe out the weaker ones while the big one is out of commission. So, for example, in Brayflox in a pull of two Comet Chasers and an Ash Drake, I'd stun/bind a Comet Chaser, single-target the other Comet Chaser then kill the first Comet Chaser while stunning the Ash Drake whenever it's not casting, then finally kill the Ash Drake. This would ensure minimal healing necessary in that situation. Obviously, it's more ideal to just do a mass pull, AoE, and have done with it, but if for whatever reason your healer refuses to heal, and your DPS is overall a bit slow (so the tank can't survive the pull without heals), this is one solution to minimizing damage taken. Others include allowing non-casters to tank mobs to split the damage and thereby removing the need to heal.

A lot of these strategies are things I use in DPS-only or Healerless runs of old dungeons. Hence they are rather foreign to main stream dungeon running. However, they are still useful in conventional runs.

Anyways, your average pug group is not going to be optimizing trash dungeon runs. In fact, I often feel like I'm the only one who actually takes optimization seriously in old leveling dungeons...