I don't know about anyone else, but I appreciated the sense of restraint these movies had. By that I mean that they didn't feel the need to shove a million different characters, references and easter eggs in a vain attempt at world building (eg. John Jameson didn't become the Man-Wolf, Connors wasn't foreshadowed as being the lizard, etc.) Really, I blame the studio attempting to ride on the Marvel Studios coattails for what the TASM series has become.
You're definitely not alone.
The thing is, as you just outlined, the easter eggs were there, but IMO, they were done with better intentions back then, as a nod to the fans out there in the audience. I liked that the Raimi movies felt like self-contained stories that were still just chapters in Spider-Man's life, but not so strictly beholden to what came before or after. This can work ala Star Wars and LotR when the overarching narrative is properly planned out, but with TASM 2, I think it's crystal clear that this isn't what's happening here.
I've noticed that in these new movies, seemingly every easter egg is some sort of franchise building contrivance.
College, The Bugle, Jameson, Felicia, Menken (I guess?), Smythe, the Oscorp basement armory, Ravencroft, Kafka, and so on and so forth. Problem is, the second movie has essentially proven that Webb is incapable of weaving through these extended plot threads with any sort of grace or competence, so I'm very worried about what the future holds.
