I don't know if I would say year 1 gear is overpowered as much as year 2 gear is underpowered. The stats (besides attack) and perks were way better than year 1 gear. The point of this game is to grind incessantly in order to get gear that works well for you. If you could just infuse you're already ideal gear, then you wouldn't have to constantly grind to get your perfect gear. This whole game is focused around grinding for better equipment. That's why they don't want you to be able to use your perfect equipment you already have. Its a way to artificially lengthen the game. If they were to allow us to infuse old gear, then they would have to add more content in to the game in order to keep people playing, and that cost money and takes away from profits. Basically infusing old gear would be counter to their business model of releasing as little content as possible.