I'm in the same boat as
@eazyt though. I think putting some of the older rares in the crates will help more than hurt, and I already have a stitch, green flip, and green flip flops. I'm not saying it because I want the items, but because I know how hard it is to earn them, having watched some of my friends for the last (almost) 3 years try to do so. Adding in a few of these rares won't drastically reduce the prices. Honestly, of all the items won, how many would actually be traded? Most people who win them will want to keep them, so they won't enter the trading market for a while.
I've been in this game since the second week it opened, and the crate system has been the most fair way to release items, especially if the keys must be bought and the crates earned (or vice versa, but I'm partial to earning the crates). Buying the keys takes credits out of the game, but you also earn the credits to buy them as you earn crates, and this way no one is at a disadvantage because they can't afford them. So all in all, if any rares are going to be released, I think crates are the way to go. And I stand by my opinion that old rares should be included).