Was Microsoft Account Recovery Code de-emphasized, or has it always been?

I know this feature still exists, because I learned about it today in Microsoft Account -> Security -> Security -> Security Settings.

I tried searching Microsoft Account Recovery Code on support.microsoft.com and Google web search. In the top results, there was nothing about Microsoft Account Recovery Code from support.microsoft.com.

However, it seems there is no documentation? Has the documentation been removed in order to de-emphasize the feature, possibly as preparation for removing this "Generate a new code" link? Or, has it never been in the documentation?

Or, is it documented and my searches just failed? If so, where?

full context

I need to set up Two-step verification, and have ways to recover it. I need a good understanding of how recovery works. I haven't touched this service for a long time, so I don't know what to expect.

I have an adequately safe place to store a recovery code.