Well what could they do here? I do like me some good swords or shields every so often but there are hundreds, if not thousands of different swords and shields.

I think it would make a lot of people angry if they suddenly lost their favorite sword/shield, let alone have to buy new skins for their sword. Eh, they can deal with it.

I don't think there will be any easy way to recreate every sword into an accessory, unless devs completely bust their asses trying, or have an accessory event for people to make awesome swords/shields.