The game is more dead than it was pre-3.1

[Blood-Aki]

I'd actually play this game more if they would actually let me play.

Why is everything so gated? Why can't I grind for something until my fingers bleed?

Surely you know why, IF nothing was capped all people would do is just that, grind untill they cap, then just unsub till next patch, people already do that but it would be far worse. That is just how this game works. FFXI survived for years because getting gear in that game took ages, and LOTS of time and paitence. but when you got gear it lasted years.