I think the ripple effect is going to lead to less players than ever seeing Mythic raiding, which is where most of their effort goes. I think they should be trying to get MORE people into it, not locking them out of it with gear droughts.
They're clearly building their entire endgame around less than 5% of their PvE playerbase. Once again - The reason classic was so successful in hooking people is that they just had to invest their time into a guild and its members to have access to great gear. You now need to do that, while also playing at a level most of the playerbase isn't capable of. Mythic raiding beyond the first 30% of the raid is so far beyond most guilds/players now that it's not even approachable. CE is an absolute longshot - I'd say I can't wait to see the stats on CE this tier, but with sales - they're always kinda screwy.
You can either build an MMO for those players, or the rest of the playerbase. They've made the decision, and its their game - so I'm sure it's working for them somehow.