There should be no catch up mechanics at all. If you fall behind, or come to the party late then that’s on you, and you’ll just have to work harder for a while. There will be more than you running the older raids (in the current expac), regulars, heroics, and finally mythics. People shouldn’t get things handed to them just because they didn’t put the effort in, or weren’t playing, or whatever the reason. I worked my tail off early on in the expansion to get my HoA up higher than most, but what happens? Yeah, catchup mechanics made all of my work pointless. Good thing the lazy, or absent got a free lunch so they could have the same as me. Leaves another bitter taste in an already bitter tasting expansion. So, now I just wait worrying about running on their little grinding hamster wheel. I don’t bother with the harder content because it’s friggin pointless from a gear or progression point of view. Today I got a 415 ring from the tortollan emmisary quest. Makes that 400 ring from jc that I worked so hard on seem cheap and tarnished.
The developers have been very, very thorough in completely destroying the game that I used to love, but now only play because there’s still nothing better out there. I’m sure that will change.