LMAO - I actually have the voidwatch gears from Akvan, Pil, and Kaggen, and a host of other things Some people consider getting gears as their ultimate reasons and goals playing the game - while others don't put too much importance on the top tier gears but more on the "host of other activities within the game". Mine is decent, but by all means not "gimped".

The OP has serious comprehension on the word "Accessible". Abyssea is accessible (yes it has plenty of "gated content" but overall is pretty accessible compared to SoA). Voidwatch is accessible, they put the stone timer as your only barrier, plus atmacite upgrade which tied to how much cruors you have. Meeble Burrow is accessible, extremely so, you get 10 tags to start with, and all you have to do is ask the NPC to get it started. All the neo contents are also somewhat accessible, and with practice most of these contents will be easier.

There is a big difference from "accessible" pre SoA and the new contents in SoA. Most of the endgame of SoA are not accessible, it's gated content with plenty of hoops for you to jump through and better have a fat wallet or willingness to "farm" your pieces. I am well aware a small numbers of people have "completed" most of the contents and would rather have the first dip on all the new ones, even at the cost of being taken for a ride as guinea pig. Bless their hearts for helping to make those contents easier down the road in the future. Delve and Skirmish are not even remotely accessible for 90% of the players. You have to jump through so many hoops, you can't even do them in regular basis.

I am not proposing so that everyone will be running around with top tier gears within days of new contents being released.... But there is a BIG difference between Abyssea steady progression VS SoA progression. Even the so called old school content (relic and mythic weapons) has a "long and steady" progression compared to SoA. You don't need to gather tons of items just so you can do your daily 2 hours dynamis or getting entrance to Salvage.