Also, since the focus is gear rather than character development, I'd like to see the gear have interesting stats such as "increases run speed" or "chance to increase crit rate by xyz percentage for 5 seconds" some sort of extra benefit to gear sets would make it more enjoyable.

At the same time once the next content cycle comes around and those sets with the "cool bonus" become obsolete make a way you can enhance that gear to increase its ilvl.

One of the things that many players loved about FF11 was the fact you could have 1 piece of gear that lasted you YEARS. why not take that part of the game and put it in 14. maybe have special gear sets you can upgrade as the ilvl increases. they already have the glamours on lockdown so if your looking for a new look there is more than enough content..