I sure hope HW is not going to be more armor grind treadmill!

[Asmodaeus]

Everquest and FFXI where ALL about the gear. Everquest was all about getting better and better gear to allow you to raid to also get better gear. So was FFXI, only difference is you got numerous sets for gear swaps to optimize, until an expansion or new content dropped then you would start anew. Both of those are vertical. SWG and DaoC where totally different as the main end game of those 2 was PVP. Not PVE. So the ability to get players to the same level of gear was a main focus so PVP wasn't inaccessible for a protracted period of time.

I never said it wasnt. The huge difference here is you had to rely on people to get that gear and they had to rely on you. You met people, formed friendships and so on. There wasnt a new patch where you could obtain the good stuff with just spamming random dungeon finders and behave like little brats without fearing any consequences. Funny enough, a few days after I finished my level 50 Cleric in Daoc I already had best in slot gear (best stuff was crafted). I still played around 2 years and only switched my Guild 2 times. And no, it wasnt only about PvP. Imagine: Doing raid bosses just for the challenge. Not for the gear or achievments. Staying in the game for months without getting better gear, just being part of the world and the community. That is what MMORPG´s are about (for me).

While some people say those old games were bad, mechanicly, especially PvE stuff was very rough. FFXIV on the other hand has really smooth gameplay (movement and class design) and I like how it feels. Still, for me its nothing more then a solo RPG with added co-op. While the way from 1 - 50 was a nice journey, endgame is nothing more then a 3D Diablo. Like I said before, its okay, I can accept it. But it also brings so much problems with it, like loosing lots of people because there is nothing else to do (beside another grind in crafting or spamming low level fates for "epic" relic weapons).