I think you’re comparing apples to oranges. 2 years ago from March is roughly when I started this game. At that point g11 was the max gear level. Since then, we’ve added g12, g13, and relics. So if you’re saying the time it takes to gear a character from g1 to g11 is much faster now than almost 3 years ago, I would agree with you.
However, it is more difficult now than it was last year at this time to get a character from g1 to g12 (without sacrificing in other areas of the game). The addition of kyros and g12 finishers has split energy spending from old bottleneck gear like stun guns. In addition, that old bottleneck gear was removed from fleet nodes. And g12 is only the beginning of relevance for most characters. So if you’re saying it’s easier now to get a character from g1 to g13 or relic 7 than it was to go from g1 to g11 in March 2017, then I’d have to disagree.