Not saying it’s something everybody do though. Assumably most people play the game as it’s intended, although many still purchase boosts for gold for unknown reasons.
To those that does buy boosts: What is the point in playing a game if you are going to skip to the end immediately when it’s the journey there that matters?
I am an advocate of replacing all currency grinds from old-content with gold. For example, no more Anima in Shadowlands, make everything cost gold. No Argent Tournament tokens, change it to gold. No Garisson resources, Legion resources, War resources, make gold substitute those for everything that uses them.
Items on the AH are set by the crafters and they use the " well if i want to create this on max rank i need to use my concentration" excuse yes its an excuse so AH prices are set by players.