Yoshi P, is this what you wanted? (Terra Branford Blues)

[Nova_Dresden]

It just wouldn't be FFXIV without RNG.

Just because something bad exists doesn't mean it should. Pure RNG based gaming can and usually will destroy the player's desire to play the game instead of finding something else to play which lowers your overall profit from losing subscribers. Zanarken hit the nail on the head.

From the programmer's perspective it is a consistent random formula because when you look at ALL PLAYERS drop rates, there is a clear pattern and enough drops are happening per hour (or whatever criteria they are using as the barometer) that the devs feel the system is balanced.

A pure RNG sytem relies heavily on the law of large numbers where when thousands or millions of players are grinding something the overall drop rate for the item falls in line with the intended drop rate averaged across all players. This however causes a problem where you end up with a decent sized group of players who fall outside the standard deviation and have a drop rate of 0%. This is where safety nets and timers come in where if the RNG doesn't pay out as expected within the time determined to be fair the rate steadily should increase until reaching 100% and providing you with your item. FFXIV has none of that and you are completely capable of never getting a drop ever if the game just doesn't like you.

Do you really believe people would enjoy the grind more if they knew they would get said item at this exact moment latest?

Absolutely. I've never seen anyone complain about books, light grind, or mahatma anywhere near as much as Atma and dungeon "atma". What I actually heard instead as a huge sigh of relief on both parts that the next phase was quantifiable and plannable. Pure RNG is absolute crap and defending it is just as dumb.