Naoki Yoshida interview @Gamescom

[Alexander_Dragonfang]

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.

Why do anything if you can get it much easily after 3 months? Its obviously hurting the game since we already know, even SE noted, that players are not raiding as a whole, gear incentive and gear relevance are the mayor culprit there.
And i never said go full horizontal, i just said it "slow it down a notch". If we were still i90 we would be like GW2 and that would be a terrible mistake too. If i had to put it in iLvls. "we should be i210 still".

What is the point in anyone doing A12S when it comes out for that juicy BiS for the expansion weapon if by 4.0, it will be replaced by an NPC weapon arround lvl 68/70. Aside the braging rights of course, which we know, don`t drive anyone to raid basically.

Vertical progression is needed, but it also needs to be worth the effort and relevant, same issue we have with relic quest right now, its not worth the effort, the time, the grind, etc, because we already know it will get replaced. Grind needs to be slowed down, or patching needs to take longer, like 5 months or so.

[Welsper59]

Why do anything if you can get it much easily after 3 months? Its obviously hurting the game since we already know, even SE noted, that players are not raiding as a whole, gear incentive and gear relevance are the mayor culprit there.
And i never said go full horizontal, i just said it "slow it down a notch". If we were still i90 we would be like GW2 and that would be a terrible mistake too. If i had to put it in iLvls. "we should be i210 still".

What is the point in anyone doing A12S when it comes out for that juicy BiS for the expansion weapon if by 4.0, it will be replaced by an NPC weapon arround lvl 68/70. Aside the braging rights of course, which we know, don`t drive anyone to raid basically.

Vertical progression is needed, but it also needs to be worth the effort and relevant, same issue we have with relic quest right now, its not worth the effort, the time, the grind, etc, because we already know it will get replaced. Grind needs to be slowed down, or patching needs to take longer, like 5 months or so.

Bolded part is very dangerous territory to keep your mind in. We're talking about levels here, so it's very important to remember the significance of power that alone implies. In RPGs, most of the time, your actual character level far outweighs the minor (ilvl) buffs you're normally accustomed to when it comes to making your character stronger. 8-10 actual character levels is significant in RPGs. Having weapons that transcends so many levels of upgrades is actually a very boring design choice. Like... exceptionally boring, dull, and uninspired. The argument about equips lasting longer is only truly relevant for the given range (e.g. each raid tier at level 60), but is hardly even worth thinking about when you relate it to a new expansion and increased character levels.

The devs are banking on the players urges to get what they want now. Not tomorrow, not next week, not next patch... now. The grand majority of players are of the mind, and some folks of that group are only now realizing the illogical stupidity behind their own impulses. They're the ones that have always wanted to rush their way to something because they felt it was the "best" way to do it. When reality slapped them in the face, well... here we are. Essentially 3 groups of players now exist: the ones who like doing content while new, the ones who take their time, and the ones who despair for their wants.