Would you consider a 1 year wipe cycle?

I would be okay with 'standing up a new server once per year'.

Maybe repurpose some of those at-launch servers that will DEFINITELY not be as necessary two months in.

This isn't at all related to 'resetting progress for anyone on their current server'.

I don't think that the sort of 'power' that Ashes is likely to reward, would be disrupted or affected much by a server reset. It would 'annoy' a properly established group for a bit, but it would also probably push them to play more, or even 'ally with enemies to get back to their previous positions so they could resume their rivalries'.

The Politics Is Too Strong.

I could maaaybe see some type of yearly cataclysm just obliterating the lands, destroying all the nodes and leaving the players homeless but with all their gear and blueprints intact.

The new gear (cataclysms would have to come with expansions and new stuff) and new mobs would be stronger than the previous stuff, but the last t5 would be the new t2, so that the newest players would still be a bit behind, while the OGs would just need to keep farming stuff to progress.

Though even this kind of setup would only work if the power scaling of gear is quite tight, so that someone in t2 gear could beat someone in t4, especially if their class had the upper hand through the RPS balancing.

But I'm definitely against taking away all the power from the players every year. Veteran players should stay that way and be known for what they've done in the past.

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Imo that's just bad design. The old gear should become obsolete all of a sudden. It should just be a step below the newest best. While lower tiers of new gear could just be sidesteps of the old gear at those tiers, and it could provide an alternative way to get the gear at that tier. This way more people will be able to farm gear of higher tiers, while the top lvl people will have to refarm their sets completely just to get a few more % of dps to edge out a win in pvp against similar top lvl people.

But that kind of system requires good class balancing and proper ability design. And the "pokemon-like" elemental systems, that you mentioned, would definitely help design those things.

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I'd probably be in the minority, considering how fucking much people care about cosmetics and mounts, but I would not play a game where I just get a title and some cosmetic for achieving some grand goal.