As I understand it, it takes a year and a half (at least) to do a great auction (at least in part due to the time needed to create new items, test the scripts, and get them approved). Since a Great Auction has not been planned, there's no way to have one this year due to the lead time needed.

But perhaps one could be planned for the end of next year? That way there's lots of time...

I do think it's important for people (including me) to realize that coding for a major auction uses a limited resource (coding capacity). Game development has taken leaps and bounds over the past few years, and it shows! But it'd still be really nice to have a Great Auction again ;-).