The Lessons Not Learned.

[Jojoya]

All of this is nonsensical fearmongering.

If Criterion dropped raid equivalent gear, it would either have the same exact stats if they didn't want to add new pieces or be an entirely minor DPS increase literally nobody will give a damn about. People do "barse" parties without even full BiS yet. Saying the raid community will make it mandatory you have say, that one extra healer ring from Criterion de to the tome ring being awful is ridiculous. All Criterion would accomplish is giving people more avenues to gear alt jobs.

Look to WoW as an example of what a raiding community will do when there's content that offers a chance at any sort of power gain - it gets turned into a mandatory commitment.

You're also making an assumption that the gear would have the exact same stats. What if it didn't? What if some jobs ended up with new BiS items coming from Criterion? Players already give a damn about minor DPS increases, that's what the entire BiS chase is about. If they didn't, no one would care about having BiS.