What was they thinking when they did variant dungeons and criterion

[Cach]

because their opinion differs from your own

When we can move past "majority rule" and "it's good thing bad because yes" maybe you'll have a sliver of a point.

"I like this, but I don't like that".

The fact that you're expected to present a curriculum of what you like to discuss something, anything, is nothing short of bizarre.
"Hey buddy, here, I still enjoy this and this, and here is my daily schedule... so don't feel bad, ok?".

One pertinent question I have is who exactly is this Criterion content even meant to be for. I have no real issue with variant, I'd call that a success even if the rewards are a bit more sparse than id like. Savage raiders don't wanna do it cause rewards don't justify the effort, casual players wont be able to at all. Extreme players can't even get past the first boss.

Variant has a solid basis and I would be happy if it were to replace what we now know today as "expert dungeons" going forward. Including a revamp of rewards and eventually their own roulette. This will "future proof" them much better. Of course given the current implementation, I doubt it will happen.
For what I observed, Criterion Savage is just Criterion with a forced no death speedrun. I would remove their existence completely tbh (no deaths, and speedrun can easily be reward granting achievements), and focus on retooling/rebalancing normal Criterion, with rewards appropriate to the difficulty they end up choosing.