Point 2 in particular rings true.

...If you can't filter out your core user base with 2FA (!!!) from bullshit like recaptch then you've got real problems

2FA is account security, not proof of being a good human user. TOTP is a very simple algorithm (python impl: https://github.com/pyauth/pyotp) that can be easily automated. After all, your phone telling you the code to type in has automated it.