I think it has to do with the fact that maybe they want to stimulate the economy. This game has easily attainable gear from comms, Flashpoints and pvp. By making this gear harder to get people might actually think about using the GTN for gear and crafters might actually be able to sell **** for once. I always though it was to easy to be self sufficient in this game. I don't think I have had to buy anything on GTN to date and that shouldn't be the case.