It's worth pointing out that SE has been doing this gating or drawing out content since 1.0 at least, don't you remember the fatigue system?

However that aside I still beliede that some arguments are on point and some are a bit off the mark. Imho the constant asking for a reduced grind has idd brought this on ourselves.
Some feelings that I feel from this threads are that it is like perceving it was different before. Let me tell you it wasn't the only change is that you are complaining now instead of say July.

The problem is the content itself beign developed to meet the request of beign fast food, which is hurting the game more than ppl realize. By beign less invested in what you do and beign quickly rewarded you cannot feel satisfaction in the in-game activities.
Now do i believe that a new director would change things around? Not really as said this kind of procedure are now the norm in MMORPGs and frankly SE was already implementing then in the failed 1.0 as a way to make hardcore ppl beign not too far away than others , as such I don't believe that a change in the chain of command will change anything. It seems to me that it's a decision made by the whole company and perhaps the whole market itself as such we can either adapt or move on.

Personally though I would pursue option C which is keep asking for not spreading the content so far since I agree with the mindset that we should decide for OURSELVES which content to tackle and not beign made to follow one path