If you look at WoW, for example, MMOs realistically have three content gates: time, gear, and bugs (ala C'thun). FFXIV doesn't have a time gate (all four bosses accessible on release); hasn't had a bug gate since Twin's tornadoes (and even that was doable); and doesn't have a gear gate because each Coil release has had simultaneous crafted gear you can quint-meld to be max-level equivalent (or better!).
FFXIV is pretty content-light as it is so time-gates would be awkward. I don't think anyone would seriously propose bug gates as a fix. I think they should stop releasing quint-meldable combat gear as it trivializes progression.
There really aren't alternative gates that can't be solved with enough raid-hours.
But aside from that, there's still a ton of people who haven't cleared t5 or t9 and the vast majority won't clear t13 pre-xpack. Complaining because the top 1% has cleared content is just ridiculously blind to context. Like saying basketball is too easy because Kobe scored 81 points in a game.
