Cosmic Exploration progression is poorly handled

[Mawlzy]

Sure,

But realistically it is quite impossible to account for several timezones, for several different activity levels, for several months all while sharing a cohesive progression check, and making sure no one misses out on any step.

I'd love to see a good example in any MMO that has achieved such a task while accomodating all of these variables. Do you have one or are we now just asking SE for the impossible?

You simply make the work required to reach each check-point long enough such that it doesn't get completed before you've made morning coffee. That is complicated in 14 due to the uneven population on different DCs - a problem SE created.