I think that taking the gear away was actually kind of a smart move. It's still useful for like 5 minutes while leveling up though lol. Anyways, in WoW nobody bitches every time a new expansion comes out and commons are better than their raid gear.. they're happy that there is new gear and new challenges. I'm not saying they got everything right but the raid is finally a challenge and isn't being cheesed that I know of, and getting new stuff, beating tough bosses, and finding hidden things has been pretty rewarding so far..