Or perhaps given that they have eyes on exactly where the bottleneck is, they are simply buying time till a proper solution can be rolled out. Also note that given that SE are rather proudly proclaiming large concurrent connection numbers (And likely chasing every last client they can), Idle players having a reduced load on the server comparative to a regular player helps them publish ever larger numbers. And before you scream 'why would they want 200k idle players?!', think of the bean counters that are funding this whole exercise. Big numbers now will likely equate to SE feeling safer in investing in this game which will benefit us all down the road.

This lynch mob thread really doesn't benefit anyone.