Always has been, but I double-checked and, yes, it's ticked.I just tried plugging in my TM backup external drive and it did not appear on the desktop.
I got this displayed
View attachment 1672402
I put in the password and after a few seconds it appeared on my desktop.
This is really obvious but the external drives option is ticked to show on the desktop in your Finder preferences isn't it?
In my fresh install it wasn't ticked.