Gearscore took it quite a bit further than XI did. XI was more on the "friendly" side because the only time you "needed" +1 or HQ gear is if it actually has stats over the NQ version, e.g:
http://wiki.ffxiclopedia.org/wiki/Alumine_Haubert
vs it's HQ version
http://wiki.ffxiclopedia.org/wiki/Luisant_Haubert
Then you have the people who want to be as efficient as possible and try to push it on everyone else even though that extra 1 str for 82,900,999 won't do a damn thing but yeah as said that exists in every MMO.