Hence why I said 3 weeks to get close to caught up, not instantly. It's still much, much faster. It is a catch up mechanic, just because you and Joe don't like how it works as a catchup mechanic doesn't change the fact it is one. Right now you get far more vessels per week then you need to upgrade your cloak, thus people/alts that are behind can catch up fairly quickly when behind weeks. This isn't rocket science.
Anything more just seems to be "I want my alt to be strong for nothing, blizz pls mail me full 475 gear as well once my main clears mythic kthx". Yes, exaggeration but it's basically what people are asking for with essences. Cloak ranks and Neck already have catch up mechanics and you're complaining about those too LOL.