Each expansion I have become more jaded, both to players at the top end and to certain chunks of the devs. Though part of that is me as a person I think... regardless, I do also feel like I'm kinder to low level sprouts these days and people who ask for help.

ARR: everyone for the most part was great. Everybody was here to have fun, with raiding being something you did not just for gear, but for story and for a challenge. WHM's healed and holy their way through dungeons then joked while waiting for mp back at the bosses. The blm rezzed the poor sod who got erased by Ifrit's charges. The DRG emergency tanking Titan when the pld fell. The game was great, you were rewarded for levelling more classes as you got more abilities to share between them. Far superior to the role action system now. No parsing or rd party tools. You made progress by getting skilled
People actually crafted manually and a good crafter was respected and rare.
Back then I disliked low level people because they never paid attention to the story and were always asking me how do I get X cross class

HW: Sadly, this was where the dps above all mentality came in and parsers appeared. Skip soar or disband. Abuse server ticks to skip Nisi. It was hushed, but there was a welcome disrespect of those dps above all mentalities because of incoming damage being very heavy at times and healing that was tricky. Skill in your role mattered. You were expected to be at least competent, but otherwise in most regular groups, you were supposed to have fun. Unfortunately that changed as the patch cycle progressed, SE didn't learn their lesson. Allowing full sized parties to enter below minimum Ilvl was a mistake.
Oh and you were expected to be fashionable if you were rich enough to afford glamour items.
Sprouts were good, they paid attention and listened so they could get to hw.

SB: You were now given stares for playing certain jobs because of what they had been wrecked to. WHM MONK and DRK especially. 3rd party tools became commonplace, sprouts stopped listening because road to 60. in any level 70 duty you were expected to have fun second and play what was good first. SB was a shit expansion and the playerbase skill level also plummeted due to lack of difficulty and lack of engagement.

SHB: Efficiency is all that matters these days regardless of skill level. Fun is no longer important either to your party or the devs. But the story matters and is awesome.
Sprouts are divided into two camps. Those that got skips or powered their levels, and those that don't. The former should be treated with contempt. The latter should be taught and thankfully actually listen.
Everyone's a crafter now, so forget making money. Raiders expect you to have logs and ACT installed. IF you're on ps4 you aren't welcome.
Luckily everyone does have a good side to them- the fashion game nowadays is on point, and people can and sometimes do judge you for your glamour.