This game isn't for hardcore players

[Goodberry]

More Horizontal Progression. Yes Please.

That is one thing i loved about games... where you get a good weapon and you use it to fight stuff and other content.

This is how FFXIV weapon system goes.

Day 1, get GC weapon,
Day 2, use GC weapon to get AK weapons,
Day 3, Use AK weapon to get Ifrit,
Day 4 Use Ifrit Weapon to get Garuda weapon,
Day 5 Use Garuda Weapon to get Titan,
Day 6 work toward you relic,
Day 7 Either get EX Primal Weapon or upgrade your relic, use that to get T5.
Next use T5 to get T9 Weapon.

Those that's a bit exaggerated, that how this game is.

I WANNA USE THE WEAPON FOR OTHER CONTENT DAMN IT!

There is another way to play the game, the non-raiding one.

I don't do raids (any more) in any game. Life is too short for that. Hardcore players are simply people with more free time than is good for them. In WoW, I do Looking For Raid because it isn't real raiding. Nor do I do the extremely time consuming, and often frustrating, quests for legendary gear or relic weapons or whatever, which anyway will become obsolete next expansion.

Basically, I'm playing this game like I play WoW. In FF14, I don't do Hard/Extreme Primals or Coils, the equivalent of raiding here. I ran King Mog till I got the 75 level weapon and am using it for everything I do, while building all my armour to 90.

I do everything else in the game (s) I have fun with. So I am out of the treadmill you mentioned. Simple enough.