The game's about personal skill progression imo, not geargrinding.
lolno. If that were true then there'd be no levels, you'd simply get a set number of points to spend on skills/attributes, respecs would be free ORRRRR this would just be Native.
It's about
amassing grinding all the little +1's in the game, especially if balance is being done around the premise of a MW'd item.
You forget it's not about NEEDING 1000 heirlooms to win. But people wanting to be on a somewhat even field and not abusing a past system to get 100 gens and 1000 heirlooms means you're shit out of luck now as it takes for goddamn ever just to get 1 heirloom, much less a masterwork, much less a full set of armor + shield + weapons etc.