advanced abilites, level cap increase, and everithing connected to that will come with the expansion.
I don't know what you mean by Advanced merits xD

the point is, this is still a "fresh" online game.
you cannot expect to have everything in a small amout of time.
they still "need" to earn money from this game xD

as for the tedious grinding...
it took me something like a month of farming fates to get my atma weapon.
boring? absolutely.
was that the only choice I had? no. I could have farmed Leviathan,now I can farm the Syrcus Tower and Ramuh ex.
It's just a personal point of view... i don't find previous patch gear obsolete (for glamour, for the retainer, desynthesis) and I don't find farming primals, or dungeons that boring or tedious.
(...)