RME upgrading...

[FaeQueenCory]

On top of all that's said, a Delve weapon is not required for Delve. Yes, some leaders want only the best of the best because they think that's the only way they can win, but that's not all that's required. People had to get the wins back before the weapons, after all; once the mechanics were figured out for each area, it became increasingly easier.

Got DRG? Many Delve groups take you if you've got 5/5 Angon and at least a reasonable gear set. I got to go a few times before my Upuirex with my Qatsunoci. Not +1, the original. People really do like that Def Down. MNK, I got to go with my Ninzas, and if we had known all the mechanics, we probably would have won. No RME there. And even if you don't have a good melee setup (why do you have a 99 RME if you don't though...?), there's plenty of support options, as Phil has listed.

COR, for example, requires only a few essential pieces of gear: things to boost your rolls/JAs, and your AF2+2 boots for a better Wild Card reset. Besides that, your rolls are not gear-based, so get your rolls up and contribute how you can otherwise. SCH isn't bad either, aside from your stun staff, most of it is pretty cheap to gear up. Sure, it helps to optimize with better FC/Haste gear (and a bit of M.acc/dark skill, though the new Magic Accuracy Skill negates most of the need for that), but as long as you have the bare essentials, your job is to mostly stun. BRD requires a little more investment into making sure you have the right instruments to boost your songs as well as gear for duration and the like, but again, wouldn't take an excessively long time. GEO is another good one, as long as you level your skills to their cap. Toss on the bell, cape, and hands and boom, max potency. Helps to have other gear sets, but as you can see, it's not terribly hard to gear for.

Delve weapons are not needed to beat Delve bosses. It's just easier, but there are other options. So having that as a prerequisite for the RME updates, if you choose not to go the route of the orb BCNMs, doesn't really seem all that bad...

It's not really about just having to do Delve to upgrade... it's about "why bother when I can just do 1/10000000 of the work and have the delve weapon".
Using Oats as the strawman is what everyone does, so let's run with that.
It's soooooo easy to get Oats.
Painfully easy.
I could have one if I wanted... but I don't cause my monk and pup are only 50.
"evrybdy haz oats"

And what's worse about it is that you don't even have to win the lot for the oats that dropped to be able to get one.

And that's the main problem here.

The REM update was supposed to bring more people to the current endgame: Delve.
People who left because they suddenly became the same as a lv1 character.
People who just haven't been able to get the delve gear but had perfectly good REM and skirmish.
People who are new.

The REMs were healthy at the top because of the multiple ways a person could create a "best weapon".
Requiring Delve to bring them back....
Just funnels the variety back into "go-do-Delve-go-do-Delve-go-do-DELVE!!!"

And VW might have had terribad drops.... but those drops were ALWAYS YOURS.
Without the option to buy these using plasm...
This is just the same as not having updated them.

Personally, I think that +30%dmg will make the HUGE "totes not a magian trial" effort be worth it...
But I, and a vast majority of the REM ppl I imagine, just don't have the time right now.
It's school season.
Making a REM was a summer "event" of sort...
And demanding pretty much the same dedication that takes a whole summer to just make the 75... during the fall/winter...
Ain't nobody got time for that.

One of the things that was the problem with the REM outdate was the fact that it takes a whole summer to just make the base... but 45min-1hr to win a random lot for a weapon of "the same" quality.
And here again we find distaste in "I have to go through hell AGAIN just to make this the same as something that took me a single hour to do"...
Not having the stupid items be buyable with Plasm was a horrible idea.

At least there's a BCNM that can be done in place of a Delve win.

(and as to your "just crap gear certain jobs"... that might work on Valefor... but on Odin, if you don't have the best of the best... You will probably not get any delve wins unless you luck on one of the 3 nice ppl organizing Delve.)

EDIT STORY TIME:
Why do I think this ungodly, stupidly huge demand of effort will be worth it?
I was in a PUG skirmish group one time... there was a DRG who was sporting the 113 skirmish polearm. (I don't know if it even had augments... I don't recall)
And I think she was testing Stardiver and Drakesbane with the iLv gear because she'd alternate...
And what the log told us about her dmg was terrifying. (or at least it was to me! Mages are happy if a WS hits 1k)
With only a 113 polearm, her stardivers were averaging about 2500 (2450-2550).
But her Drakesbane were averaging 2600 (2550-2650)...
Which might not sound all that different... Until you factor in the +30% from using drakesbane with the mythic.
That's popping out 3380 on average. (obviously it'll actually be MORE than that because REMs are 119 not 113... but for an easy comparison the number holds.)
That bonus is what made the REMs the top.
It's what I feared about making them 119.
Because... I don't think the other 119 drops can compete with that.