Why vertical progression is poorly implemented

[Gunspec]

"I want a completely different game" is what I'm basically hearing echoing around. Well, you've got $15 a month, right? Do you need me to drive you to the store to pick out a new game?

While there are ways in which an ongoing game like FFXIV can change and develop over the years, turning progression into a flat line with no upgrades yet endless side-grades isn't going to magically change anything. It isn't going to make content like Crystal Tower relevant for over 2 years, it isn't going to make dungeons drastically more appealing (why would a dungeon ever have gear as strong as raid? Easy rewards will always be inferior, and best for lightly gearing secondary classes), and it isn't going to improve the community unless you mean by making all content pointless to run more than once, and forcing people to find their own groups for nearly all of this unengaging content.

Removing tomes wouldn't improve the game, it would only reduce my "things to do" each week and would utterly destroy the purpose of running dungeons. Making tome gear a "back up" to dungeon gear would essentially mean that a person like me would be fully geared after a dozen dungeon runs or less. The dungeons would become irrelevant in a week, and seeing as I don't raid, it would mean that I could stop playing for 6 months and still be up to date for the next patch.

Horizontal progression is essentially the method 90% of games use when they aren't adding much new content anymore. Endless sidegrades with minimal upgrades, designed to cater to those who endlessly tweak their characters, all an attempt to keep a game alive which the developers no longer are planning significant content for. FFXI is the only exception that comes to mind for me, and if the number of "former FFXI players" I've met in the last decade is any indication, while it was a wonderful world experience, it wasn't the best system for retaining player interest.