Odyssey gear is some of the best gear in the game, however the methods to obtain and upgrade it are not only bad but not in keeping with FFXI traditions.
Something FFXI has always excelled at is the "Ikea effect" in that something you partially create has far more mental value to you than something you just buy. This is a universal and well documented cognitive bias we all share.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IKEA_effect
FFXI has always had two main methods of obtaining gear, creation and/or low drop rates and both of these add value to them in our minds (this is why something like Dalmatica is still my most prized possession, since it took advantage of both). With Ody, you just kill a monster and then buy the gear from an npc. This greatly devalued that gear in the minds of your players, the reason this system is used in other games is because the gear is made to be temporary and that does not fit with our game here.
Ody gear has less value in the minds of your players, and was less rewarding to obtain.
Ontop of that, the first stage rewards players with the visual Ody gear and the long winded upgrade process purely rewarded players with extra augments. Which means most players with Ody gear will never upgrade it.
Either the upgrade process should be easier/faster and/or it should offer some visual reward for doing so.
Even a white box as a +1 would of made a huge difference, but we didn't even get that.
Please in the future don't release gear in this same way you did with Ody.