The group stage was previously capable of actually being interesting. Germany failed to get out of the last two. Spain, France and Portugal have all been eliminated at that stage recently. Costa Rica and Uruguay finished above Italy and England in 2014. Even Argentina failed in 2002.
Doubt you'll get the same jeopardy for stronger nations with a potential group of death anymore in a bloated 64 team tournament. It'll be more predictable and essentially an extension of qualifying I'd expect. Bit like the Champions League is now where you'll be waiting for the knockout round to start for the tournament to really get interesting imo.