In my honest opinion,
There's always the new guys that struggle getting the Dragon Defender, I figured out to make it less harsh to grind, even though people like the grind, probably not this grind.
I thought of this:
Make it so they can buy up to Rune in a store for WG token's that are dropped by the animated armour sets, then collect more token's to get from Rune to Dragon in the basement.
I think this will still give it a challenge, but makes it also a little easier, atleast you can get the grind going from rune to dragon, which is bearable.
EDIT: Buying the defenders up to rune should be in WGuild token currency.