The biggest surprise is they left the Zombie alone all this time. They've known for months that a less geared Zombie was more beneficial than a better geared Zombie and that should be an obvious crime in a game like this.
They want you to gear up. They want you to feel BETTER about having better mods, better gear, better levels, etc. etc. Imagine if they let any star level character participate in heroic raids instead of just 7*, now suddenly the people with a 2* zombie are even further in the lead in terms of Nightsister teams. It just doesn't make sense.
Summary: All the people wanting the Zombie left alone are dreaming. I don't know what their plans will be, but you can bet that the person who actually put gear on their zombie is going to see a bigger return on their investment, as it should be.