At the time those '5 friggin scenarios' were the new thing, they were all awesome. Having to deal with each of the new primals that popped up, seeing how the story was evolving... at the time, it was awesome.
Once those things all became old, and new players had to 'rush' through them to get to the expansion's stuff, then it definitely does seem like bad design. However, if you take your time to smell your roses on the way, and pay attention to the story the whole way through, it won't be nearly as bad. Unless you hate the story, of course, then there's nothing that'll help :\