It is just WILD and BAFFLING to me that during a content drought in an MMO where the only "new" things to do for veterans is Savage raids and/or community ran events and getting together with friends, then take such drastic steps to prevent us from doing ANY of those things without significant hassle.

I guess if your entire raid and friend group has always been on Aether and nowhere else, you're good. But mine isn't, and it sucks.