Yeah, I don't really get this criticism. If your account isn't developed enough to get GAS, then CG is supposed to make everyone else wait an extra few months so that you can finish 2nd place instead of 3rd?
Look, it's frustrating, sure, to miss an event. But that's the reality of playing this game. There are hundreds of thousands of people who play this game around the world. 5k got GAS the first time. More are going to get it this time. And more than 90% of players (much less total accounts, in the millions, which includes people who download it at some point but don't log in regularly or at all anymore) won't have GAS.
This is the way.