Neonchameleon
Legend
Starting at a level higher than first is explicitly recommended as an option for veteran players in the DMG on page 38.Do they not want to because they very specifically want the brutal low-level experience?
Or do they not want to because "1st level is the level you start at. That's what 1st means. Why would you ever start at any other level?" Because I can tell you, that was what all four of those DMs told me. Not in exactly those words, but that was the point.
If there are a substantial number of DMs that won't even look at that rule then I can understand why the modular options did not, in the end, make the cut...