I too miss the "27 of 41 items…" notation that used to show in the status bar. Somehow it gave a better feeling of progress than a progressive inconsistently moving blue bar.
Alas. Progress.
On a Mac since 1984. Currently: 24" M1 iMac, M2 Pro Mac mini with 27" BenQ monitor, M2 Macbook Air, MacOS 14.x; iPhones, iPods (yes, still) and iPads.