IMO this is part of the issues with Visions, Torghast, and other similar content over the past few expansions.
Instead of challenging side content with its own rewards and own progression, they make it mandatory for progression outside the content while making progression within reliant on gear from other content.
A similar issue existed with Mage Tower in that progression was highly dependent on gear from other sources, though it was better than Visions or Torghast as it was not tied into other systems such that players felt required to participate to be viable in other content.