Even when we didn't have Ordinals, fees were quite high for payments purposes.
As for Bitcoin Core, I wouldn't say that they don't want bitcoin to be for payments — it's just the fact that they think the base layer needs to be decentralized enough and easy enough for node-running. Their preferred solution is to have payments infrastructure on a different layer, though unfortunately none has been successful as of yet.
I rather believe the fees issues were not expected and Bitcoin is already too massive to make big changes and experiments. If we were back in 2010 it would be easier to experiment. Now it is something along the lines of a business contemplating a rebranding after years of decline in revenue. It is very risky.
Another Layer is the least risky way of experimenting as of now. Layers and trying out new features on Shitcoins before even contemplating adding them to Bitcoin.