Main progression line better (from Zero to End Dragon)

Hello! here my idea. In my experience, the main progression line from zero to kill the end dragon is the less complex and more fun to play, after that, with elytra, and other high level goods, the options to progress are less straight forward (Wither, ancient cities, beacons, underwater temples, you mention it) I know they can be done in parallel but usually after elytra, farms etc. is more viable. So my propose is to make it harder/longer to finish the main storyline, make the mobs harder the deeper you get in the lower levels of the world, make random spawns close to the player being in deep caves, make the iron armors/tools more expensive and create a slow but doable line of progression to diamonds, villager trading, etc. Nowadays it feels just too easy and fast to complete.