No one's saying we don't want grind. I'd be happy to work on an LI I could keep and improve upon continuously. We just don't want our investments in our LIs to be so futile. I put a lot of effort in to my old 1st Age Filikul Spear, Erichthonius, and I'm still a little bitter about having to reduce it to spare parts. :*(
Well that doesnt mean you have to completely rebuild the LI system. How about you just get SOEs back when you decon weapons of L60+, with higher-tiered LIs giving more scrolls? That way you get something back on your IXP investment (runes), your customization investment (legacy scroll) and your legacy-tier investment (SOEs). Nothing is "wasted" then, you can roll it all into your upgraded weapon.