MySQL 5.6 is officially end of life this year as of February. All hosts should have already move away from it. It will no longer receive updates or support from Oracle unless you join their lifetime support program (not free and not recommended to be exposed to the internet). Without MySQL 5.7 we can't use JSON columns which have more optimum storage for JSON strings (which is what all `params` columns are). I suggest changing to a better host or stressing the importance to them that their MySQL version is EOL.
We will no longer be supporting EOL versions in CB 2.7 and onwards (when this will be enforced in our installation checks). This will change with each release of CB as needed. We will always provide an advanced notice regarding this as well (as we've done in CB 2.6).
Hosting with MySQL 5.7 isn't expensive either. SiteGround supports MySQL 5.7 (except on legacy servers). DreamHost supports MySQL 5.7. Both are within 10-20 CENTS price range of HostGator. You can even get a cloud VPS for as little as $5/mo through Vultr and DigitalOcean. Hosting doesn't have to be terrible anymore folks. Move to something better.
On a personal note I also strongly recommend never buying into an EIG host. They're all equally awful. HostGator is a part of EIG. You can find a list of hosts to avoid below. They are an awful company that have done awful things to the companies they've absorbed.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endurance_International_Group
krileon
