should features be removed?
Here's my take on it...
The ability to easily switch between modelling versions was never a feature to begin with. It was graciously added by Cliff because people kept saying...'the new versions keep changing the sound of my presets, I want to go back to version x.x'. Which you could always do and still can, by re-installing previous firmware versions with Fractal-Bot, which only takes a couple of minutes.
Prior to the roll-back feature being added, I'm certain I recall reading that the MKI/MKII would be supported for a long time because it had the same processing power as the XL/XL+ and they both shared the same code. The only main difference was the ability to store more presets in the XL/XL+, which most people don't need...myself included. So now that the last few versions of the algorithms are included with each update, the MKI/MKII, which have less ROM capacity, will soon no longer be able to handle the ever-increasing size of the compiled firmware, even with the compression algorithm Cliff added.
It's like saying, I'll upgrade to Windows 10, but I still want to be able to use Windows 8.x, Windows 7.x, Windows Vista, Windows 95 and Windows 3.1. Definitely not necessary, but doable with a boot loader. So in essence, Cliff has added a 'boot loader' to the firmware, so you can easily switch modelling versions. However, unlike my OS analogy, it only takes a couple of minutes to rollback modelling versions in the Axe-Fx, without the 'boot loader', unlike the hour or more it would take to re-install Windows OS versions each time.
So, in my opinion, XL/XL+ users are not really losing any features, you can still rollback modelling versions in a couple of minutes...which in my opinion, with Q4.x is not necessary anyway, it's so easy to dial-in tones now without tweaking advanced parameters.
I see it as a win-win, not a win-lose.