I personally have found augments, tomes and items in breakables and gold piles. Sorry, no screen shots as I never conceived that I would need them. Full disclosure; those occurrences have been EXTREMELY rare. I too think everyone should play the game the way they enjoy it. However, if your guiding mantra is 'XP/minute', or you find yourself admonishing people for 'wasting time', perhaps you are not fully understanding the concept of 'play'.
People that join my groups know that we will be doing most optional objectives(there are a few optional objectives that I only do if someone is chasing an item. think Search and Rescue) and obtaining all the bonuses (conquest, ransack, etc.) that we can. My rule of thumb is that the group leader, or star holder, decides. They decide whether the group will be blowing past everything to get a completion, doing all the optional objectives, breakables and such, or something in between. In point of fact, I play almost daily with a static group (we have a set group time, duration and core players). Even in that group, if I don't hold the star, I do not decide. It should be said that amongst the core players, which is most of the party, there is little, if any, difference in our play styles.
If you don't like the star holder's play style? Don't whine. Don't complain. Don't zerg, or not zerg, in opposition to the party. Just complete the quest in the play style the star holder desires, leave the group politely and find another group. Find people whose play style matches your own. It doesn't take long in a group to determine their play style. It also won't take long for you to develop a library of players whose play styles match your own and with whom you enjoy grouping.
