Dude, it's Final Fantasy XIV. This isn't like World of Warcraft where you can unlock most things via gameplay. The whole point of FFXIV is that you don't have to play it. You log in once a week to do your mandatory re-clears (if applicable), and otherwise you stay logged out until the next patch drop. FFXIV respects your time because it lets you play other games, and for just $13 a month, you get the social prestige of being aligned with the "superior" MMO without actually having to play it. If we had to grind to unlock gear, how else would we have time to play our other games?