msbuild had publish since at least .net 3.5 (when I started to use the platform) it was just a little bit akward to use tough. and of course dotnet publish is 1000x better than msbuild with it's obscure syntax (which got way better in .net5 and 6 with -p: syntax, etc.)

-p:Property=Value (or /p: Property=Value) has existed in Ms build since the beginning. That's not a .NET 5 or 6 thing.

Also If I'm not mistaken most of the properties (if not all) can be set through the command-line (for good and bad :)), e.g. `set Property=Value && msbuild` or `Property=Value msbuild` (on unix systems)

I don't remember what changed, but I wasn't able to use it on my old .NET projects.