Early dnd was more influenced by sword and sorcery and pulp than by high fantasy. Adventurers were not chosen one heroes but people who risked their lives (and often died) to discover/steal a bit of treasure. Heroic fantasy was an influence, but not the only one or the primary one until dragon lance. And they just released a whole book on dragons, which is classic high fantasy.
I can’t help but feel that you are really reaching here. To the extent that dnd games were ever really about “themes of universal human experience” or whatever, they still will be going forward. There isn’t some monolithic tradition, either in the hobby or in…the entirety of human history…that is being replaced as the result of an errata
I'm going to stick to my guns here -- the basic format of an adventure does fit the heroes journey, including mechanics of facing challenges, battling monsters, getting treasure, leveling up, and developing the character, getting kudos as a hero.
Good point about Conan and Swords & Sorcery. Those follow the format of picaresque adventures, where the characters are placed in an episodic situation, often gritty or humorous, and the point of the story is to see "how are they going to get out of this one." The characters often stay the same from episode to episode, kind of like James Bond movies.
However the traditional adventure format -- that's mythical questing all the way.
Here are a couple of examples of how this format applies to real life situations, just to bolster my case. Imaginary D&D adventures model these real life examples.
Society is threatened: There's a pandemic
Heroes have to urgently go on a quest to get a treasure: virologists work to develop a vaccine in record time
The Heroes bring the boon back to society: The vaccine is discovered and massively produced
Society is preserved: the effects of the virus are dramatically reduced, and social instability isn't as bad as it could have been.
People are in danger: a fire breaks out
Heroes go on a quest to deal with it: Fireman head into danger
Heroes face trials and tribulations: they put the fire out, and risk their lives to rescue people
Society is preserved: the fire is brought under control before it spreads, and people's lives are saved
Conclusion: The Firemen go to a tavern, have a beer together, and get praised as heroes (people like firefighters for a reason).
One more for the road:
Quest: my child is sick
trials: comforting the child, taking them to the doctor, getting medicine, keeping calm while being worried about their safety, taking care of them
Preservation: Sickness runs it's course, child recovers and is fine (because of the things I did)