Sure, it is not needed, we can always write things in a different way. As a matter of fact, with such an argument, hardly any improvement should be accepted.

so let me explain why this decision was reached and what your options are for the future.

wait_until was removed for several reasons:

The automatic conversion not only confuses people but also makes the method less extensible. See [Feature #14183] for more details about the reasons for the change in behavior, and why certain implementation choices were made.