Is anyone else bothered by the lack of incentive for mediocre players to improve?

[ThirdChild_ZKI]

This is a bit of a win/lose, sadly. You have players who will only log on to run content that gets them what they want, then otherwise be done with the game for the day/week, thus not really ever "learning" anything other than what it takes to get tomes/loot/etc. Or perhaps before dungeons really were worth the time/effort vs. reward, the FATE grinders who hit the top quickly, but then were inexperienced with dungeons/trials/raids. These players won't necessarily try to get the better gear unless there's a "guaranteed" method, and in the end, that shrinks an already small base of skilled AND geared players.

In the end, you create the glass ceiling for players who may have the time, but not the skill, an imbalance in effort vs reward for players who lack time but may have skill, and severely diminishing returns for players with both time and skill, who lack other players on their level. I understand that under that model, people who are truly skilled can stand out and readily be recognized for their accomplishments/skills, but that in itself will not be incentive for those who simply DON'T want to try, or those who just wouldn't care anyways.

I may sound like I'm playing devil's advocate, but I'm not really. I just think that the incentive to get better won't be found with restricted gear. Players themselves have to want to be better or want to learn for the sake of being able to enjoy more what's available in game, but mileage varies from person to person.