As a food for thought process, how would people feel if SE added a fast track option to the introductory ilvl RMEA weapons or severely diminished currency costs of pre-ilvl phases? Personal guess, I'd see some people for it. On the other hand, I'd also see people complaining that their "hard work" was suddenly invalidated with a patch not unlike the Thief's Knife back in the day. Of course, I'd also say it's 100% possible to code a partial refund NPC to nip that very gripe in the bud. Refunded currency can then go toward another weapon or simply be sold.
The problem with this is actually less the work that went into it, and more that any idea you have for compensation would destroy the economy the entire economy revolves rather heavily around RMEA currencies. So, your proposed compensation would drastically devalue the currency as a whole flood of it reenters the market, which in turn will either drive the prices for everything not related to RMEA way up or make said currency completely worthless until it all gets used up.

RMEA weapons are not required, they are meant to be a lengthy side quest that one aspires to complete over a long period of time. As strong as some of the weapons are, I do not believe at all that any are completely essential to having a functional job that can be used in content. a couple come kind of close, tbf. But not required. Further, nerfing these completely optional grinds will only make the rather slow rate of new content addition all the more noticeable.

Keep in mind that SE is apparently working on something substantial, which they're promising us by the 20th anniversary.