Quote Originally Posted by MomomiMomi View Post
That's not at all what I think of with horizontal progression. FFXI lasted as long as it did at the same level cap with the core concept of sidegrades. These were not necessary things to get because they were not upgrades. They were different options to reach the same end. They were usually extremely minor upgrades at best, or sometimes extremely slightly inferior.

The whole system is based around the lack of having to upgrade, and is exactly the kind of thing that Yoshi was talking about that he wants in XIV and says he's doing with ilvl but isn't, because the ilvl system requires you to go out and get that piece of gear, the very thing he said he doesn't want.

XI's gear swapping during combat is a completely separate thing, and was definitely a negative of the game.

Basically, it is a desire to have ilvl tiers last longer than they do.
Then what incentive does this provide? Why farm whatever content for negligible upgrades or downright inferior gear unless it's for glamour? Furthermore, if we do not have to upgrade constantly, how do you then incentivize people to do content? Just a throw away example, say they removed weekly caps. I guarantee people would grind out exactly the amount they needed for progression/glamour then never touch the roulette again. Now I know you didn't reference that specifically, but when changing a system, you need to consider how to ensure people will still do the content consistently because you'll always have a flux of newer players and you don't want them trapped in hour long queues.