I just don't get it.

[Welsper59]

I'll admit straight-off that although I like the idea of horizontal gearing, the combat-gear-swaps doesn't seem remotely horizontal to me. It just seems like a snakier vertical path. If you don't have the gear set, even if of equal or lesser ilvl, that allows you to maximize a given ability, your overall stat-derived output is suboptimal. To say nothing of the idea of swapping outfits every 1-12 seconds--how does that work.. are we all just wearing stat-ed holograms?--aesthetically, it kill any actual sense of options or compromise even more than XIV's model. You either have the perfect manipulator, or you don't. And if you don't, you'd best go get it. Sure, there may be an average best answer for a particular fight even when able to choose your stats only before a fight starts, but at least that has a difference in dynamics. The alternative just slaps on bits and pieces until you have neither relative strength or weakness--just completion, within availability. If that's what horizontal gearing aims for, then I've no interest. I want meaningful stats, not niched ones.

If you want to see progressive, meaningful stats in action, (with little to no niche-ing) look no further than WoW's Hunters, Fury, Arms, Feral, Ret, Fire, etc. They were admittedly balancing nightmares, many of them starting weak early game and crushingly powerful later on as their proc-related secondary stats rose into serious percentiles, but your stats could actually influence your rotation or priorities. Some stats had particular plateaus, and others just messed with the gamble of the button flow, but either way they were noticeable. In XIV, the only real gameplay adjusters are Crit for Bard (gamble) and Speed for everyone else (plateau). That said, while XIV secondary stats certainly suffer from oversights (Skill Speed being split from Spell Speed, draining more TP for a lesser to near-equal dps contribution than Det/Crit, devaluing AAs and oGCDs, eventually preventing proper oGCD weaving), the lackluster stat-gameplay interaction has almost entirely to do with class design and internal mechanics rather than the stats themselves. I wonder if any changes might be made in that regard in the future, or if going from 3.4 to 4.0 will have changes merely on the level of a 3s-extended Phlebotomize and Demolish, again.

And indeed, before we can even think of amassing a horde of near-equally relevant gear, we would first need some solution to our inventory issues.

Unfortunately in your case, that actually is what the general idea of horizontal gearing falls to. The niche stats to assist gear you currently have, thus keeping old gear relevant while also making you want the new stuff. So while there is still a BiS system in place, your old gear does still remain relevant for a period of time without being replaced so quickly.

I can certainly appreciate your preferred idea on the matter, with stats varying how you play in general, but we (the players) don't allow such things to really be. Balance, for example, is a frontline concern. If it doesn't perform optimally at all times, it generally isn't looked at fondly, such as 3.0 AST. Special stats tend to also cause huge balance issues, and for a game like XIV, that's a rather large concern and probably why we don't have them. Then we have the min/max approach, which carries over to "best" and "optimal" degrees of play. We will find what works best, and given our tendencies in XIV (surprisingly more than some other games), that will be seen as the only option.

Your mentioning of class design is ABSOLUTELY something of warrant to criticize. It works for the most part with what we have now, but what we have is relatively bland. Been done a million times sort of feel. It's fine for a good while, but it does start to get stale the more we deal with it. I'd imagine rotations will continue to change though for some, so that will help along the way, but there needs to be a bit of an overhaul to aesthetics and effects (stat wise) somewhere down the road.