What's the point of R50 Gear...

[Belial]

You are all missing the point here.
There should always be a better reason to "get stronger" than just to get new gear over and over again. For me it is a pointless system and the main reason i don't play WoW.

How do you play this game then? The point of getting gear isn't just simply "getting gear." to people, nor the purpose. It's a mark, an indicator, that you have completed this difficult portion of the game. On top of that, it also contributes to your character becoming better equipped for harder content.

Motivation could be different things. What about and interesting Location with tough enemys, a interesting storyline and so on. Basically that you're Gear or your rank helps you proceed in the world.
Getting Gear, just to be able to get better Gear is the most stupid thing in a video game history i witnessed. Especially if caps are raised every 1-2 years.
But don't get me wrong. Endgame content is a lot about that and there is nothing wrong with it. The problem starts when it becomes the only thing to do with your gear.
The perfect system would be, if you actually need the gear to unlock certain content or that obtaining the best gear is the only way to defeat the toughest enemy's in the game. There should always be some kind of meaning to it.

Endgame content where you get the better gear always has a place in the storyline of the game. At least as far as the MMOs I've played. And interesting locations & enveloping storylines are fine... but if there's no reward, the mass population simply isn't going to do it. Risk vs. Reward.

And if, as you propose, we were to adopt this system of "needing" the best gear for certain content, then you're segregating a large part of the community, causing grief amongst players for not being allowed, or invited to, certain events. The best gear shouldn't give you elite "only I can do this status," it should simply make your character more efficient.

As it is for FFXIV.
Being rank 45 or 50 makes very little difference and this is something Budi is trying to say.
You can enjoy the best gear and all the content with rank 45 and some players need more motivation than "getting a little stronger" to level to the highest rank and I also think getting Rank 50 should offer something special. Don't know exactly what, but certainly more than it is now.

This is actually false. There's a very large difference in your utility as a player between 45 - 50. Because of how physical levels currently work, your rank is one of the few things that determines your characters ability to perform. Gear, stats, etc. have yet to be tweaked properly for the new battle system. Maybe you can equip -certain- BiS (Best-in-Slot) pieces currently, but any of the rank 50 items that drop from the new 45-50 instance require rank 50 to wear. Also it's been known that they are implementing level & class restrictions to the newer gear coming out.

But I also think it is something that SE is working at the moment. This game needs still a lot of work and players need patients.
Especially content-wise.

That's the best thing you said in your post, though it goes against all the complaints you addressed earlier. Fact is, you're playing an incomplete game. People seem to have a really hard time wrapping their heads around this fact. The game has many more adjustments, tweaks, additions, removals, etc. ahead of it. Voicing complaints on aspects of an incomplete game which have not yet been fully addressed is silly.