Honestly all they need to do is make your weekly gear drop and cloak attempt cost the item, then the rest of them are free once you’ve earned it. Hell, make the free ones have no corrupted memento drops too if it really matters.
I, with a rank 7 and soon to be 8 thanks to today’s reset, have zero incentive to help someone with a rank 3 cloak. The content I pursue is going to be different, and them lagging behind could potentially cost me my chance. However, if they would just make everything on a weekly lockout, I would be more than happy to run “free” runs where they get their upgrade and I don’t get anything. But since the vessels are extremely limited, I can’t run that risk.