Why is Yoshi P turning his back on the playerbase that loves this game the most?

[Sandpark]

First, let me say this : Horizontal progression is basically impossible as long as the the level cap is increased.

Now, if we suppose than HW kept the lvl 50 cap, horizontal progression would mean that gear obtained from the three parts of Coil, the three parts of Crystal Tower, the three parts of Alex and the two (soon three) parts of Mhach could all be relevant in a way. Of course, you wouldn't need all items from every instance for every job, but at least one item in each could still be interesting.

Horizontal progression is still very possible whether the level cap raises or not. XI was once level 50 then gradually raised to 75 where it stayed a long time.

The type of progression really doesn't matter, it's the rate of the gear being one upped or ousted. Now as far as content becoming outdated, that very much has to do with levels increasing and gear being outdated. Even if the cap remained at level 50, the older gear is still subpar compared to gear dropped in later content. There are two ways to keep content from becoming obsolete.

1.No frequent level/gear cap raises and horizontal progression.
2.Frequent level/gear cap raises and vertical progression, all content becomes level/ilvl synched.

For the second to work, the level/gear raises must be very minimal and similar in stats.

Are those items always earned the same way ? Because one issue, for me, is the over-usage of tomestones.
Basically, since HW, you could have earned a decent full set of lvl 60 items by only doing level 50 content over and over again...

That is by design. If there is no reason for veteran players to revisit older content, then new players coming into the game have longer queue times in duty finder or at worst are unable to advance the main story. Which is a bad thing considering so much content is gated behind the main story and sidequest to advance and unlock things.

Think of all the people in XI who couldn't clear CoP, they were unable to advance in areas they paid for. I suppose a solution would be to stop making so many rites of passage to progress and make the story stuff even easier than it can be now. I love my rites of passages, but at the same time, I would hate to come to a standstill in progress because it is too difficult to clear or get parties for.

If SE did a 180 and made the game horizontal and tuned everything towards large groups and super difficult gameplay, with no reason for revisiting older content . They would gain a niche and probably be loved devoutly by the ones who play. For the rest of the people who are more anti-social or not as skilled, or not able to invest that amount of time, the game would come to an end for them.

The only solution I see that doesn't go to extremes ousting other playstyles is extending the duration gear is relevant. Say instead of refreshing gear every 3 months. Extend that to 6 months or a year with content that supports that method. Or go the route of Guild war 2 and Elder Scrolls Online which is level synch everything and offer horizontal progression in the form of Champion Points or The Mastery System. I hate the notion of all is level synched but do like the concept of character horizontal progression vs gear progression provided insane grinds are not in the mix.