I guess it's time

[Azrael]

People want 1000s of hours of gameplay but don't want to do anything that takes longer than 20 minutes.... Well life don't work that way unfortunately.

Actually it's the opposite, people are complaining that there is nothing left to do after those 20 minutes, because the content doesn't last long enough.
I don't know what you mean when you say they lowered the difficult of the ironworks gear, I probably missed something, but it's harder to craft than the 170 gear.
The relic doesn't last long enough compared to the effort you put to make it.
Farming for a month or two everyday to get a weapon that will be outdated after 1-2 months gets boring after you keep doing that for years, reason why I didn't go for the 3.0 relic.
It's the same thing all over again, even the steps are the same, they are just reskinned,looking back I don't know how I managed to cap the 2.0 one.