So, pretty dead lately....

[Glasya]

And how does any of that equate to fun and will last x amount of months between patches?

The onus is on SE to create and implement ideas to keep people amused. I'm just spitballing here. Ultimately people are looking for something to work towards that isn't a horrific grind of stuff they've already run a million times (see: the relic, which didn't have a single unique fight/dungeon aside from Chimera/Hydra).

A smorgasbord of different content should be available when one logs in; "Do I want to do X? Or do I want to do Y? Or Z? They're all viable forms of progression."
I know it's a pain in the ass to implement/balance, but we really need auxiliary effects and procs on gear. It's the only way to inject any kind of variety into endgame gear. And when you have diverse gear you can create different ways of handing it for individuals to gear up in-tandem over the long-term.