The idea is simply to reduce the gross exploitation of game mechanics which allow players to progress massively without putting forth any effort at all. I don't think this is unfair to anyone, and I think it would improve the utilization of game content and increase SoD's longevity.
- Leeching experience while being AFK for an extended period
- Allowing people that players neither know or trust to level up their character.
- Leveling up or getting gear by leveraging toons that are no longer active players.
From a Dev's standpoint, I can see no reason to allow people to bypass content through unintended game mechanics.
How about: because it is fun?
And if the staff hadn't banned a ton of people for MacroQuesting, we'd probably all be MacroQuesting by now because that would be the easiest line of progression. That doesn't mean it's good for the game, and it doesn't mean it should be allowed.
Just because people are going to continually try to find the easiest way to the top of the mountain, it doesn't mean it's hopeless or pointless to try and prevent them from getting a free ride.
MacroQuest was/is blatantly against the rules. This, however, is not yet you are trying sooo hard to make it against the rules. In my mind, the only "fix" that you proposed that would actually do Anything to stem this alleged mudflation is getting rid of ringers. You are far from the first person to propose getting rid of ringers but it isn't NEARLY as easy as you make it sound. Let me provide you with an example of how "ringers", whose existence is repulsive to people like you, are saving the high end of this game, and their removal might do far more harm than good.
Currently, Fair-Weather Friends is the highest tier raiding guild on the server at ~tier 13 having finished Tur'Ruj (9 tribes each with a boss), Innerer Sanctum (Nylastra'Zara, Custodian, and Taeshlin the Fallen thus far), Blazewind, and of course whatever Exodus can't kill in Spires yet (Remains of Akarn, Iskkath's Experiment, Researcher Thek'rak, and of course Mistress Saitha herself). Now you comprehend the extensive gap from the top guild to the next guild (at least 2 tiers worth, if not more).
Now say that an extremely pivotal member of your active raid roster (a Cleric/Shaman/Enchanter/Tank) quits. In the case of a cleric, I would look no further than a tier 10 guild, because that is the only way that I can be reasonably assured that I will find a cleric with max CoP and Archaic. This cleric is now a member of our raid roster, but in order to keep my guild happy we have to push progression and high priority targets (Rujik/Taeshlin/Blazewind) which means that he has to play Not His/Her Cleric (a retired cleric that is ridiculously more geared/tomed). If we did not have access to Not His/Her Cleric then the guild would be at a standstill backgearing until the newly recruited cleric has enough hitpoints to survive some of the ridiculous nukes at this tier, and the mana to heal more than he would ever think is possible (this gap is rather glaring going from tier 10 to being able to heal what we currently do).
Moving on to Shaman, Zurkka is the unsung hero of FWF and I am not sure what we would do without him. You would think that Shaman is more easily replaced than a Cleric, but essentially the Shaman is the glue that keeps all of the healers together. He is the only healer that can afford to stay on the MT 100% and when you have a Shaman with ~1500 less mana it drastically reduces the longevity of ensuring the MT stays alive (to a similar but not as quantifiable extent the same could be said about Druids, who might be the most efficient healers in the game that provide much needed supplementary healing at points in time when the MT would otherwise die from going 4 seconds without a heal).
For a tank, it is even more difficult. Imagine a mob that does 5k unmitigated damage per round and there are two of them.. I don't think I need to say anything more.
Lastly, the most powerful class in any raid, the Enchanter. If we had two/three of them, we would use two/three of them. Unfortunately, Enchanters are also the least mained class in the game. This means that the pool of possible recruits includes much worse options than any other class. Currently, we really have no option but to box Zorlon on easier content and drop a DPS to single client him on hard content (the majority of what we do now). This is an undesirable option, but it keeps my guild running as smoothly as possible.
In any of these instances, a problem arises, it has taken some of us since Ikisith's release (almost two years ago) to get where we are today, and another 1-2 months of strictly backgearing is a nauseating thought. If we didn't have access to retired players (or "ringers" to the rest of the server) people would quit and we would fall apart. Meaning no one would be where we are today for at least 1.5 years if not more, that hardly seems like a good thing for the server.