Quote Originally Posted by RiceisNice View Post
Other than BRD/MC's i200, i205 and i210 weapon-damage calculations, I honestly didn't feel like there was a problem with the reward structure itself, just what it was put on top of.
In general, that's true--the structure itself could have worked just fine. However, when the raid weapons were 5 item levels higher, that allowed, ultimately, for progression options to be available more readily for non-raiders, as it was simpler to avoid stepping on the metaphorical toes of the raiding community. SE has always believed that raids should generally offer the best rewards (or at least offer them earlier).

While that philosophy isn't necessary, the structure it resulted in was successful in ARR. The problem is basically two fold: they tried to fix something that wasn't broken (the progression structure for weapons), and they didn't modify their philosophy in a way that worked with those new changes.