For example, by the end of Cata, my aim in raiding was to get every item I needed. It was an obtainable goal. By that point, DS was a one-nighter, guaranteed clear normal raid for my guild. So setting that bar was simple to sell world of warcraft accounts. Getting to that point was just about luck with the loot drops. Once I got all that though, I would only use my main as a backup.
I moved on to an alt at that point. Various reasons for that mind, the mindnumbing simplicity of Normal and the lack of desire to relearn the mechanic changes in Heroic meant many of our raiders began having breaks from the game to earn wow gold, which lead to a tank shortage which meant that I had to play my alt just so we could raid and work on other people reaching their goal.
Fast forward to today. Normal raiding isn't a faceroll like it was when Firelands got its heavy nerf or when everything in DS was 40% easier. If I even thought of setting a bar of "BiS everything" then I would probably end up hating myself and the others I raid with.
Now that normal mode raiding is tuned to where Firelands was at release of 4.2, my perception of gear has returned to how it was before. It's a reward and nothing more.
Personal pov on the general attitude from vocal players during 5.0, they didn't make this change. They still wanted to have the easy gear up buying wow accounts process that was Normal DS at 40% and DS LFR. The slow progress in normal raiding made them feel cheated out of their personal character progress in gearing. Unfortunately, many, be it justified or not, allowed this issue to stop them from raiding. Guilds apparently fell apart. definately not just for one reason, but when I saw over and over and over "we need to grind and cap valor/rep every week just so we can raid", I lose it a little.
To be fair, my frustration arrives when I see it uttered from people that raided Firelands when 4.2 dropped, from those that progressed to LK before the buff was put in place, from those that cleared Ulduar before ToC came out. When I see players of that calibre (not trend setters, but good enough to clear normal after a few months) decry this rediculous notion that you needed to be fully decked in 489 gear before you could enter normal MV, I'm sorry, but I get close to losing my shit on the topic. It's pure player induced misery, and I had to do a lot of work in 5.0 to make it clear to my guild that they did not have to jump through that gear hoop.
At the end of the day, if you wipe in normal because of mechanics, gear will not help you. Having more health than a wipe mechanic doesn't a good raider make. In normal, progression is based mostly around getting the tactics right. Everyone reacting right. Not panicing.
Now, I'm not naive. Yes, normal progression is slower this time round. Special thanks to over tuned bosses like Elegon, Garalon and Horridon. Those are the fights where you hit berserk timers which is often an indicator of gear issues (although, if they don't switch fast for sparks, ensure they're next to the bug's legs, or failing to focus on one Elite when two drop from the rafters, then it's back to tactic issues). They reason they are deemed over tuned is because bosses before and after seem trivial in comparison. Christ, especially when you move from HoF to ToES. Man, do you realise that all the complexity was thrown into the first two raids.
Gearing is part of some progression, granted, but if you were in a raid guild in 5.0 and they didn't even bother trying because "not enough are in 489s", I'm sorry, but you are with people (or are a person) that overstates the value of gear. You could progress in MV in 463s. You could progress in HoF and ToES in 476s. You CAN make a start in ToT in 489s. You will hit roadblocks along the way. Those roadblocks are what indicate the need to gear up, not some stupid raid policy where you can't even try until you hit some elevated magic number that was pulled from some VP vendor's arise.
