If you choose to compare two things, do a full comparision, not partial, that is just lame. You used WoW as a argument here, then count that i will bring up stuff from there, as it already had been brought to the discussion anyways. Every single game is about grind to some extent, just in some games the grind takes 30minutes or the length of one round, in other months/years.
Obviously for quite big part of community playing without any looms is just unimaginable, as far as i do not understand why, i accept that. I do perform quite well without single piece of loomed gear and i believe vast majority of you is capable of doing even better, just do not be afraid and try
(and ye, i sold all my looms to help like 6 friends get some starter and upkeep gear, as some of them wanted to go cav, which is somewhat money consuming, i had fully loomed armor, two pieces, mw weapon and i gave out two looms to my clanmates for free, i guess i just like the grind, but i do not depend on the outcome of it). And to be honest, seeing my friends being established in the game now and being able to use what they want how long they want feels much better than owning with 7x lordly/MW items.