SE enough of the treadmill, please make the game more interesting!

[Prototype909]

People say that horizontal progression is better. I would argue that it helps nothing. The same BiS sets are going to exist, 95% of the gear end game will be irrelevant because the 5% of it will be the BiS and groups will require you to have it before joining their group. It happened in FFXI, don't pretend it didn't. Funny how many DPS I saw not get invited because they used a regular Haubergeon and not a +1, or no O.Kote. While vertical progression may have flaws in it's own right, it at least give a sense of empowerment and the feeling that your character is growing per piece you put on you. How good does it feel to do that 100 more damage to a mob after getting a better weapon? It feels very good.

1)Gear discrimination or just player-base discrimination in general already happens, you're just as likely to get booted from a fight for not outputting enough DPS numbers or not being able to 100% deal with mechanics. It's dependent on the players involved.
2) Player-base discrimination shouldn't be the basis for not releasing more content, even if there's 1 BiS set not everyone is going to be able to get it and ultimately concessions will be made, just not by the most elite of players (Which is fine and expected)
For example in XI, if I can't clear Dynamis I can just go to Sky and try to get drops there, if I can't clear Sky I can go to Limbus and try to get drops there, if I can't X, I can Y. Or if I have multiple end game shells I could do all of the above, or any combination of end-game events.
3) Despite all of XI's problems it did just as many other things well - even exemplary, there are negatives in every game but it's about how that player views them against the positives. I'd rather have a breadth of content with a high barrier (With lots of lesser content predating it), than a selection of content that's shallow in both floor and ceiling just because "We're afraid playerbase might become douches" when in many cases the players in question are already exhibiting those behaviors

Also 100 damage on a mob? I don't care if I'm doing 500 damage or 600 damage as long as stuff is dying (Which in most cases, it's going to die regardless because most of the content in this game is outgeared on release), and unless it's some critical DPS check like cutting edge Coil turns chances are you can just deal with mechanics and still clear so long as nobody dies. In my book its either you clear or you don't, it doesn't matter if it happens 5% sooner or 5% later than what is expected of a group. I didn't feel stronger or empowered when I got my HA blade, I just thought "Ok, now time to work towards immediately getting rid of this because it's expected of me".