Farewell to Karazhan?

Relmstein talks about bringing decent players back to Heroics.

However, one thing that worries me is that if the jump from non-heroics to heroics is made easier, Blizzard may end up killing Karazhan. Yes, I know that they're adding badges to Karazhan bosses, but the gear itself is at best at par with current Heroic rewards. Why should one spend loads of time in Karazhan when one can finish Heroic Mechanar and a few other instances in a fraction of the time and effort required? In addition, Heroics only have a one-day lockout timer while Karazhan resets weekly.

Blizzard originally intended the epic fire resist sets to be the carrot that would drive raiders to Heroics. However, just like a kid who hates vegetables because he's being forced to eat them, raiders opted for making new strategies for A'lar, the encounter that supposedly required all that fire resistance. Personally, I did pick up a few pieces for Krosh Firehand tanking (and I know that this fire mage ogre ignores Fire Resistance completely, I took the pieces for the stamina), but couldn't bother with the rest. The helm, the ring, the amulet and the cloak are hardly upgrades from even level 70 blues. The upcoming Zul'Aman-skinned items seem to be at par with some of the better craftables (like Spellstrike), so they may end up being somewhat popular. Since you won't be needing Revered reputation for Heroics anymore, you'll be hitting Heroics even before you have finished your Karazhan attunement. Aside from a few individual pieces (like the Lightning Capacitor for fire mages), Karazhan may end up being a dead-end in PvE content progression.