I find it more interesting they consider those tiers of gear to be such game breakers. Moreover, if someone told me I had to Salvage in any iteration just to do other content? Hell no. More devs need to realize the segregating players off into tiers isn't a good thing, no matter how much the "pros" may whine about scrubs being on the same level. Otherwise, missing the initial rush in new content pretty much overly complicates the process of progression. Doubly so on sh*t like Salvage with the daily timer.
Edit: In case someone might not grasp the implications, here's the fear: In SE's eyes, in order to Delve, you should have stuff like Neo-Salvage gear. Let's say getting a full set for yourself and your helpers takes 3 months (And remember not everyone multi-boxes to cut corners here). Great, now you can Delve, but then future content potentially requires 3 months of running Delve. Then the new content after that requires 3 more months. Now, imagine yourself a player entering the endgame 6+ months after Delve's release. How many established folks will be done with Salvage, Delve, and content after that? Okay, let's say you find some others willing to help with Salvage, will they be the right jobs? If so, can you then maintain that 3 month pace without it stretching out into 4+ due to scheduling conflicts? And THEN you have to do it all over again with Delve.
The problem with the "We'll nerf it later!" philosophy a number of MMOs employ is that they don't really grasp the logistics issue. Alright, so you can make a boss a little easier so the less organized folks can do it, okay. These people still have no guarantee that when logging on thinking, "I want to do X today!" that they'll actually be able to do it if you need 5-15+ others. As is, SE has a bad history of offering incentive for people to backtrack for others, which usually means diminished interest for antiquated content. But continuing on, there's still the matter of access restrictions, drop rates, and depending on the item, stuff like turn-ins (Salvage gear and prestige weapons, as an example). Could SE buff the drop rates? Maybe. Will they? While it's happened in places, precedent doesn't favor the sentiment. They could also adjust turn-in requirements, but despite the ******** over the 1500 HMP requirement or even the stupid "3 months of soloing Dynamis daily to make a relic" standard some pimp, it's just... oi. Pragmatically, they could add crafted gear later that lets you skip Salvage or even Delve, but this will either never happen or require drops from the later content that will likely be overpriced and out of the reach of players who need it to catch up because those currently on the edge need their own resources to keep up.
Ultimately, it all culminates to luck. If someone can't fall into the right crowd, the odds of them quitting out of frustration escalates. Philosophically, it's peachy keen to assert that MMOs should be about playing with others, but when tiering is invoked and the segregation based on personal progress begins, not having sensible solo options for those times when you can't gather 5-15+ bodies absolutely NEEDS to be there. "I want to do X today!" becomes "I'll never be able to do X..." and potentially "Why do I even bother? *unsub*" when you feel like you're stuck in a rut.
Don't get me wrong, I prefer progression over the pre-2009 sidegrade model, but you've gotta make steps to keep people on equal footing the whole time and not when you feel maybe too many have fallen behind. By then, damage has been done and competition looks more appealing with "things to do" that they actually can do even if they eventually hit the same roadblock in that game.
Edited, Apr 20th 2013 9:18am by Seriha
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