I have a theory: the problem arises (imho) when some expansion get cooler limited stuff ( legion) and other expansions got barely anything worthwile in the same cathegory ( Bfa ) this creates inequalities between players that played different expansions, as some will have cool rewards to carry over and other lame ones.
each expansion has its own version of some cutting edge mounts or titles, or things that become unobtainable afterwards, and very few people complains about those because each expansion has it’s own version of them, more or less of the same “value”, legion stands out because they went all out on the coolness of the unique rewards ( weapons are the coolest stuff you can visually show on your character) and didn’t come up with equally cool limited weapon rewards in BfA and SL.
if anything, we’d need some very cool time limited weapon mogs to show off for each and every single expansion, possibly themed around that specific expansion set pieces (another reason removing class sets was a bad idea).
if every expansion got it’s own cool weapon skins, with unique special different druid forms, nobody would pull their hair out (or at lest much fewer people) for not having access to the legion ones, because they’d have access to equally cool analogue but different stuff from BfA or SL or whatever expansion they played, and who played legion but not BfA ( for example) would not have access to those.
So while the legion bearfor would be unobtainable afterwards (in this hypotetical world) that would not be the only one special bearform, as there would be more each expansion.
you might say “then stop using the FOMO or limited time rewards”, but IMHO in a world where the most efficient way to play is not to play, and everything you accomplished is worthless after a new patch/expansion release , having expansion specific challenge reward skins that are unobtainable afterwards, is one of the few rewards we can carry over, for having actually played an expansion when it was current, that retain their value, in my opinion.
anybody can have 99% of the stuff from old expansion, except for the 1% of unobtainable stuff, call it a participation trophy if you want to be negative, or a badge of honour if you want to be positive.
and I’m fine with that, as long as it’s limited to a few handpicked things every expansion compared to the majority of the stuff still obtainable, and as long as every expansion gets its own equally cool version of it.
I completely skipped a few expansion in the past and i’m fine with people that played them as current, to have something to show for it, that I can’t get.