I still enjoy running the “lesser” dungeons without rushing half the time, then trying to dodge all of the shots entirely. There’s more incentive to do it without a pet, which I found myself doing more often amongst all my chars before the star update. Now, I’ve re-equipped Sirius to all but my actual NPE Summoner for the sake of my thread, but once I obtain the necessary fame, I’ll probably go back to being petless.
I think the largest reason I’ve found that people don’t do this when asking around is that they don’t want to feel more incompetent at the game then they already claim to be. I don’t know about the rest of you, but trying to dodge all the shots in covering as simple as… I don’t know, a Sprite world has helped me to also focus on dodging all the bullets in the higher dungeons without needing much in the way of healing, and often with small public groups.
I know loot is a heavy incentive for many players in this game, but enjoying the journey without being handheld by a rusher and/or a steamrolling group (it can certainly be more social!) is what keeps me going longer term.