Variance in player skill is hurting FFXIV's itemization design.

[Kerii]

I feel you are confused about the current state of FFXIV. Gear currently does provide power differences. Someone with a 240 weapon can do quite a bit more than someone with a 210, 220 or 230 weapon. However, no one is kicking people who have lower ilvl weapons (at least I've seen no stories of such).

Raid groups are, but content done through party finder and duty finder is usually synced to a minimum ilvl. Having higher ilvl gear does actually help, but you're still synced down to the upper most bounds of that level range.