imo the very fact that your own definition of "very simple and easy to edit in place" apparel became increasingly expansive as you worked through your thoughts… demonstrates the core issue here.

I acknowledged exactly this.

Now, the argument here is usually the 'give a mouse a cookie' one. "If you let people have simple apparel on ancients, they'll clamor for more and more complex stuff! It'll never stop!"

And I'm still mystified why this is always seen as such a dreadful prospect. Pretty much any new release of any type inspires a round of "Hey, that's really cool! But you know what else would be really cool? ........" suggestions and discussion. Unless people are running to California with torches and pitchforks, where's the harm?

What I see as positive about the 'expansion' scenario is that the staff and artists can take it completely at their own pace behind the scenes. Maybe they take note of which sorts of things people seem to be asking for most (pets? emblems?) or maybe not. Yeah, there would always be 'But why isn't [X] ancient-friendly yet?' complaints. Just like there will always be 'Now that there are chickens, I want ducks to be available as apparel!'-type complaints. I think the site would survive it.