Any talk about them doing away with Aether Currents for flight

[linayar]

Think it has more to do with it being busy work and generally people dislike busy work.

Though that is the nature of an MMO

I would say that attuning with aether currents is not busy work as it doesn't take long to do and it offers a concrete reward like unlock the flying feature. Busy work is mostly done to pass the time rather than for anything more substantial. That's what grind is and there is no grind in aether currents attunement.