In regards to the 2k texture project as a whole, updating the bake service is a very important part and I implore that the priority for this is raised.
I know that this feature is planned. However from being at, watching and reading logs of various meeting groups, the Lab doesn't rate this as a high priority, and is seeking more feedback from the community.
If 2k textures as a feature goes live grid-wide and for all viewers - and the bake service is not updated alongside it - creators of bodies, skins, skin-tight clothing and so on will abandon Bakes on Mesh and adopt the old 'applier' method to get those high-resolution textures onto the bodies. They will not wait for an eventual bake service update in the future.
This is bad for everybody, as it means bodies will be encouraged to add or continue to support 'onion layers' which are poor for graphics and network performance. For those who don't know - onion layers are duplicates of the body mesh, made a tiny bit bigger so its textures lay on top of the layer below. This means more mesh to render and download.
Appliers are also bad for creators and users of add-on body parts (replacement chests, thigh squish, hands & feet) as we rely on Bakes on Mesh to make our products functional at the base level - most bodies do not provide support for addons to plug in to their applier scripts and have not done so for years.
I feel that the 2k texture feature should not go live for the official general release viewer(s) until bakes on mesh is taken into account and fully supported.
Thanks for your time!