How is more vertical progression hurting you? I'd rather have it than not have it. What if Eorzea's highest Ilvl was still 90?
I'd rather have flying mounts too than not have them. We've got ground and flying mounts and a reason to use both, they are not worthless. Even if your not using a flying mount and flying to a quest because it moves faster than a ground mount, it's still fun sometimes to just fly around willy nilly on your new twintania, zu, or primal falcon.