Maybe you missed my hint, because I never said that.
Also, how is that punishing? it's balancing, not punishing. If I would take your heirlooms only, that would be punishing.
There's no fucking godgiven right to have 50 heirlooms.
My main concern is a character respec. Although, in the past, I was able to spend several hours a day playing, that is no longer the case. And since my builds have been made useless, I, and I'm sure MANY MANY others would very much appreciate a character respec without having to grind back to their current level. If required to retire again and grind back up from level 1 to fix my build, I likely would not be able to do it for lack of time, despite the hundreds and hundreds of hours I've already put into the community.
Heirlooms: I honestly don't think we need to steal ANYONE's heirlooms, even the guy who has 50 of them. You can only use a max of like 8 at a time anyhow. Just let people repick their heirlooms so that they can pick items that work with the new slots system, and we're good.
No need to deny a character respec and heirloom respec, or to make people have less heirlooms. Just let people respec their stuff and call it a day. You lose nothing by doing it thusly. You do not create imbalance. You simply eliminate what could be potential grind for people who have obviously already put in plenty of time in the mod, and may not(such as in my case) be able to afford such a time investment in the future.