So from SE perspective I can almost see what is going on.

Whenever they raise the difficulty a very loud and very vocal community rises up and starts screaming about their real lives and real jobs and real families and how they don't have time for anything difficult so they should nerf it all. And SE listens because....

we keep doing the content. What SE fails to realize is, we do it not because we like it, but because its a great source of exp and tomes. It is kindda like Eureka, they consider it a crazy success because it was so widely done. But what they failed to realize is that we did it because they locked so much behind it that the player base actually loves. Mounts, minions, glamours and especially relic weapons. But if they would be paying attention at all, they would see that the players are actually doing it while complaining about how bad it is. How they go in and get what they need and leave, then never come back because the content is not fun and they don't want to do it all over again just for another weapon that is just pointless glam and frankly a little too heavy handed on the particle effects. They should make content we want to do again, not because we have to, but because we enjoy it enough that we want to or at least enough we don't mind doing it again for that pointless glam.

This is the big issue SE is facing right now. They have zero transparency and zero communication with their audience. The only things that get through are the things that are screamed the loudest. Even here, when was the last time someone from community management actually talked to us? They used to be incredibly interactive, but that died in what....2016, maybe even longer. I know there is a language barrier but when you have a global game of this size, you need to be able to communicate globally, esp with your largest audience. I used to be a huge SE fan and championed this game since 2010 up til around HW when things really started going in the tank from a communication standpoint, when all these odd choices started being made, regardless of what was being said or asked for. And I think its likely much do to a certain ego.

Anywho, off my soapbox.