Gold keys now guarantee a shoulder piece, whereas before, you only had a 50/50 chance of getting a shoulder. Even with the introduction of trash traits like Prosperous, the chance of getting a good shoulder from gold is higher now than before.

And the shoulder drop rate from silver was buffed sky-high from something like 10-20% chance to 40-50% chance.

Considering how very easy most pledges are--on the easy days, you can be done with both pledges on one character in about half an hour--I think the rewards are more than fair.