It's no secret that modern MMOs are designed to keep players occupied and "stuck" in the game. You can thank Asian (the Chinese started) developers for this. They've fine-tuned their MMO development strategy for extracting cash from players, with the main purpose of the whole game not to entertain, but to play to the natural pitfalls of humans. The whole game is developed specifically for the hunting of so-called "Whale" players who are willing to drop thousands of dollars into the game.
Here is an awesome talk(volume warning) explaining how the games are developed for this. You'll notice that daily events (like what you explained) are a key component. Achievements (And leaderboards) are also mentioned.
So yes, this is the way the games are heading these days. It started with Chinese developers and the Western publishers have taken note at how successful the Chinese developers/publishers are at making money thanks to these style of games. This is why almost all modern MMOs now have some features like this.
