I disagree with you for a few reasons:
removing the old carrot on a stick to replace it with a carrot much lower to the ground doesn’t feel right imo
At this point there is no “carrot on a stick”. Without having access to competitive gear in the first place, there is little to no incentive to even try to advance as a new player. Assuming both teams / players are on an equal skill level, you are bound to lose if you are out-geared by a player who simply has more time put into the game accumulating the very best gear. It is the main reason for the dwindling participation in the first place. Even WITH all of the very best PvP gear available, you’ll still be at a disadvantage compared to those who also participate in heroic raids for the best offset / trinkets.
what about people just playing the game and improving themselves lol
As a new player it is incredibly difficult to gauge your skill and formulate/follow strategy when you simply do not have the gear. Quite often you are forced to resort to a non-conventional strategy (that almost never works) because you are either trying to avoid taking an insane amount of damage or you simply do not have the damage output yourself. You are then almost forced to do something stupid like pick the squishiest target and pray they make a mistake / you get good RNG.
I’ll use myself as an example (2550+ experience): I have three rogues (don’t ask why) - one in the some of the very best gear currently attainable, the other two in moderate gear to absolute scraps. The difference between the three is HUGE and there is a measurable/noticeable difference in game-play. Playing the other two is not fun because even if me and my team play PERFECTLY, we lose as we lack kill potential with my limited resources.
It’s not a stat gap as much as their problem is a knowledge gap. Playing meta comps to increase their success, then practice, & learning how they deal with every comp etc is all the things these players you’re targeting aren’t willing to do and is the REAL reason they are hardstuck 1600 or w/e.
Having gear is part of learning and practicing strategy - if you simply do not have the damage to burn someone down (again, even if your strategy is executed perfectly), how can someone learn that they are doing something correctly? If gear was much easier to obtain, newer or inexperienced players would be on a more level playing field and it would be much easier to practice / theory-craft- / etc. to improve gameplay and be more competitive.
I’ll use myself as an example again - I have NEVER played a caster before (because rogues), so I decided to make a shadow priest. Even though I’ve now increased my MMR to 2100, I flop around like a fish out of water in deadly gear because if anything connects to me I explode. I’m not doing what I am supposed to be doing like using GCDs to dispel the kill target or be offensive as I’m too busy using my limited defensives (while also trying to remember key binds and lacking overall situational awareness). Even with some very experienced friends coaching me along I have to tune them out half the time so I don’t die. If I had an extra 4000K health and the matching offensive stats, then maybe I’d have more pressure to be on the counter-offensive and be able to focus more on what I should be doing.
Unless your goal is to increase bracket sizes for our titles
That is, in part, the goal - top tier players should not be queuing into the same 20 people (or their alts) over and over and over again. It gets incredibly stale and leads to burnout or not bothering to queue until two week notice. So even on the opposite end of the skill spectrum, lack of participation leads to even less engagement. Bottom tier players should have an even larger group of players to play against as well as to play with. By making everything more accessible it simply makes the game more fun for everyone.