I mean, the "core fundamental" of every RPG is "do damage." At the heart of every combat system is an HP bar that needs to be depleted. FFXIV's problem is not that damage is valued, because damage is always valued. The problem is that FFXIV's combat design is so meticulously scripted that everything has to happen as it is structured or the system falls apart. Attack speed is a joke for most jobs because then your rotation drifts and we can't have that. Crowd control can't exist because if you silence a boss' cast, then you just skip a mechanic. You can't stun the boss or the entire fight choreography desynchs as the boss' mechanics will be delayed with mechanics that emanate from external sources outside the boss. It's like that cartoonish Disney Channel honors student type character that can't have fun unless they schedule time to have fun ahead of time.

The reason only damage matters is because they cannot think of anything beyond damage to influence the flow of gameplay.