It's because we need to lower the barrier to entry for sets.
I'm serious. I know, I know, I see you reaching for that downvote button but hold the hell on a moment, and hear me out.
The real problem is that getting a set into the game is too damn hard, so we end up with limited amounts of shit and when we get anything, anything, we have a world of expectations to place on it. And if that weren't enough, it's so hard to get a set into the game that if you've been paying any attention at all to this subreddit, many workshop artists have spoken up and said that the only way you can get a set in nowadays is by knowing the right people, and scratching the right backs.
We need to stop this. Because it means that in order to get a set in, it's about who you know rather than the quality of your own work. Which is why we get so many shit sets. People can rage and be as discontent as they want, but so long as those people are focusing their rage on the wrong thing, they'll just be less and less happy. We need to make it so that there's a better way for sets to get into the game than by "knowing the right people," and I think the first step to that involves lowering the barrier to entry. The unfortunate side-effect to this is that it means we will get cowboy Ursas, but if you haven't noticed by the sets that are getting in anyway, there's nothing we can do to prevent that anymore. If you want to see how I can say that, then I'll direct you to my post here about the "pirate ship" Gyrocopter set being just as bad as a cowboy Ursa. But the upside to this method of lowering the bar of entry is that finally we'll get good sets too, like how we should have gotten the full Warlock set to go with that Golem instead of the butchered version that Valve gave us with the Fall Compendium, which I'm still reeling over, like seriously what the fuck how is that okay they just ripped us off so hard it's bullshit.
Or the Perennial Giant set. I'd love that set! I've been getting into Tiny lately and I am planning on playing the hell out of him, so I'd love to play him with a good set like that. But because it's too fancy, it's not going to get in, or because Valve doesn't like it, or for some reason only a workshop artist knows about. Particles, maybe. Apparently particles are the devil to Valve and only by forking over fifteen bucks are we worthy of getting a set with particles, and only when they deem a set to be good enough.
I'd just like to see the hats I like in game. The problem is that there's always someone who dislikes a hat vehemently, and always someone who likes a hat and wants it on their character. Quality-of-hat is relative, regrettably. I don't mind the Gyrocopter set, but I didn't mind the Alpine Ursa set either. It seems silly to me to keep getting upset over "unfitting" hats when they've very clearly lost their seriousness, "lore-suiting" status and level of consistent quality long ago. Which is why I propose lowering the barrier of entry which means that sure, there will be more things I don't like, but there will also be more things I do like. I'm not saying we should let the shittiest shit-sets into the game, but it seems very clear to me that this current arrangement of hat-implementation isn't working out for anybody other than Valve.
And I for one prefer it when the consumers win. I think we all would, as consumers-of-hats.
I don't expect to have a popular opinion here, so if you've got counter-opinions I'd love to hear them. It'd be pretty easy to see this and say "wtf no thats terrible" without any thought, just because what I'm suggesting is a change, it's unusual, it's different. For example no, I'm not suggesting we let garbage-tier shit into the game. Not any more than what's already getting in, anyway. We just need a method to take the emphasis and power away from "who knows who" and back into "how good your work is." I think that part of the reason why we're getting so much shit is because of that emphasis being where it is, and lowering the barrier to entry seems like it might help with that. Sure, adding certain sets is a bit harder than others, but hard work is basically what we're paying for. Valve didn't get to be an industry giant taking the easy route around things. And that shouldn't change.
TL;DR: We need to put the emphasis on quality again over who-knows-who and the only way to do that is by lowering the barrier to entry even if that means getting over ourselves and accepting the great cowboy bear in the sky and if you have any disagreements I would enjoy hearing them because maybe we can come up with a better system or a solution together! because dota's a team game