Sorry Yoshi, but if you award the best weapon in the game by winning the lottery...

[Reynhart]

There were always complaints that there are not enough "options" and with that implied "equal" options.

Raiders frequently complained that Savage was not the only option. The real problem with options is not really to have one or several, but to have one content cover every need.

As said... Diadem with a new designed 270 gearset + a 275 weapon and it would have been a success, incentive wise.

No, it wouldn't. Raiders wouldn't group with "casuals" to gain a kind of weapon they already have, and Anima owners wouldn't do it either since their alt job would easily obtain a wapon powerful enough for any content, and their main already has the BiS weapon.

People still do 24-man, although it gives only one upgrade per week and 260 stuff. It's far away from dead.

"Once a week" is not particularly "alive". Especially if you intend it to still be alive for the next three months.

it's a fact that there were never any complaints like "we want faster gear replacement and faster ilvl rise, so please give us not only higher ilvl at a new gear tier, but 1-3 months before that."

It's a fact that lots of people of having nothing to do at all between 2.5 and 3.0.

But where are the people who demanded something like this?

All the people that asked for new relevant content do so beside Savage and are upset that their character only improves every 6 months.

That's because Creator is the "hardest" content in the game so it SHOULD give the best gear.

It really depends on people, in fact. You have some skilled players totally unable to have the patience to farm for the Anima of the Diadem. For them, Anima is "harder". Savage has the highest skill requiement, but, first, skill is not the only thing that should be rewarded, and second, skill doesn't have to cover every reward.

Besides, if the 280 is ultimately useless til Stormblood, why not add something more exciting and less offensive? Like a spellsword or a katana?

What's the point ? It's even more useless than an i280 weapon.

Imagine PotD was not just only the fastest way of leveling, but with PotD you could also reach Level 61 (with additional stat boosts). Would this be bad and an unfair incentive towards the other level opportunites (not only difference in speed, but also value of the reward much higher)? Why? In Stormblood (only 3 months!!!) the Level cap is raised anyway.

It sure would be a great way to push people doing PotD again, yes. Or, even more, you make PotD a requirement to unlock a unique Necromancer job.