Source: Frizznik in this thread.
They are changing the T8 shard gear to no long have a requirement of the previous piece to upgrade.
For a crafter making a T2 piece that means the buyer only needs to supply the shards. The T1 armor requirement was changed to be simply the common ore.
The T3 armor was also changed to not require the T2 piece. There are fewer WoE raids now, so I actually think that this might help us get a little business back in shard gear. People coming up now, will only have to collect shards one time to get some T2 gear and be done.
Not sure if it will mean much more work as I think people are saying that T2 and the T9 quest rewards are similar, but it is something at least.