Maybe for you.
For me, the game is nearly constant disappointment and negative reinforcement now, since mythics drop so rarely, and I basically never get anything that helps me out at all.
So that’s negative reinforcement 99 times out off 100.
1 in 100 times it’s a mythic and then, more often than not, that’s a disappointment, because it’s useless to me. … So make it negative reinforcement 499 times out of 500.
And my reaction to a mythic, now is, “meh, whatever”. No sense of accomplishment and feeling good about myself, the way earning a mythic by slowly leveling up a piece used to bring.
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I realize things are different for the end-gamers with lots of mythics already, and 50/50/50 scrolls, for whom a random mythic drop is a pleasant but unneeded bonus.
For everybody else, trying to level up gear sets to improve their heroes – or, I should say, hero, since most of us who didn’t get grandfathered in with 50/50/50 scrolls have basically given up on trying to level multiple heroes – it’s just constant discouragement.
I’m far from the only one who’s posted to that effect on forums or in chat.
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Regardless, why not have both … random mythic drops, but also the ability to level up gear rarity and build up to a mythic, the way we used to.
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I do agree with you, though, on crafting.
Spending aether to make just a random mythic is stupid and pointless. It’s simply another pull of the slot machine lever.
If we go with the “20% useful” metric, then 4 times out of 5, that’s just a disappointment too … and a really frustrating one, as it takes a while to build up aether.
I realize that fast-dungeon-playing end-gamers will get there quicker.
For us mid-gamers, though, it’s a lot slower to get 500 aether. I only just got to that point this week.
The ability to craft fully specified gear (slot, set, color) really needs to be added in when they revamp crafters. And at a less crippling aether cost … unless they mean it to be something that only the already-mythic-equipped end-gamers can make more than very occasional use of – particularly if there’s no other way (e.g. upgrading rarity) to advance or acquire desired items.
But where is the event everyone is waiting for? You know. The “We are sooo sorry we removed the gear update mechanic. Here is a fix” event. We still need to wait another month? 
