They could still let us use the old stuff without focing anything. They dont need to manipulate everything. Ppl will still want to use the new gear. But excuseing the game as a time sink and shrugging it off doesnt really cover it. They really dont need to go this route or there is literally no reason to level up half of the gear we get. In that case we can just only put time into half of the gear since it would no longer be worth the time of investment.