I have no problem with gear grinds. Law, ESO etc. Those systems work well. The problem I have with ffxiv is the lack of....bosses. 4 relevant raid bosses in savage. And two dungeons.

Coming from wow, where I'm used to 10+ bosses in a raid tier. The 24 man's don't appeal to me at all, because they are done in a pug. They are also generally easy, and have crap drops. We essentially won't see more savage bosses for 6 months. 4 bosses every 6 months is sad.