What running joke? I have never heard this running joke. The only request I see come up time and again in my raiding circles is for loot to be unlocked earlier, but loot unlock and Echo are entirely separate content buffs.

As a primary point I want to mention Echo is not even added to all savage raid tiers when they are still "on content". That boon is rewarded only to the final tier of each expansion as a final boost to encourage engagement from players who want the rewards but find savage a bit too difficult when it is fresh off the press. It's basically a final ditch effort to breathe life into the content and make it appealing to a slightly less skilled or less time invested echelon of players. The first two raid tiers of an expansion's life cycle only receive the echo buff after they are "off content" (after they have already been replaced by a new tier) and when the gear is already outdated.

Second paragraph of the first post made me chuckle a little because it basically reads "people who are struggling on Anabaesios 12 are not lacking skill, the fight is just too hard". Seeing as people have been clearing the fight since June when it came out how is this not a skill problem? P12 is actually one of the easier final floors they have released in a while and I think many raiders like me would agree. There is no screw up in difficulty. The DPS checks are incredibly lenient and the hardest mechanic out of both fights is probably Superchain 1 which is very early into the first phase. Both phases of P8S were more difficult than P12S.

Echo is not something that should be added while the content is current. I finished farming my stuff months and months ago and I still feel this way. People who didn't clear the tier in the first month also need time to farm out the rewards they want while the content is still the intended difficulty. Savage, when it's new, is made players who enjoy the challenge. Getting your loot while the content is still hard should not be a reward exclusive to those who cleared when it was brand spanking new. Your average static probably isn't even done farming the final floor by week 16. There needs to be a substantial period where the content remains at the base difficulty because the types of players who actually interact with it are at their most active during this period.

TLDR savage is made for people who enjoy the challenge and should remain challenging for an extended period of time. If you don't like this element of savage raiding then the content is not for you and therefore it should not be designed to cater to your requests.