a) You could have arrived at the park in the morning. I don't ENJOY mornings. Not in any sense of the word. At home I sleep most days til 10am, somedays later. But at WDW we are usually in the park by 10am. We didn't even really rope drop and still were able to pull multiple FPs for everything we wanted. The last trip under FP+ the availability of FPs was significantly decreased.
b) We didn't get 3 rides, we got 8 or 10 or ... a lot. It was awesome, and anyone could have gotten as much had you just decided to show up earlier.
c) Its more than just the number of rides, its the scheduling, the planning the feeling (or actually being) locked in, the decreased flexibility, lack of a clean slate, etc.
I mean its funny when in perspective of a previous poster who has repeatedly said the reason they like FP+ more was because, like you are saying, they liked to show up later in the day and by that point all the FPs are gone. Yet are glorifying FP+ by showing the availability they can get by showing up at Rope Drop ... do you know what the availability was under legacy at rope drop ..... EVERYTHING