Stop Raising Item Level and build foundation with Horizontal Progression first

[Worm]

Maybe it's because sages are wise. After all SE already uprooted and replaced XIV's system and look how well that turned out

Yes you're all so smart and sagely you want A Realm Reborn Reborn. I'm sure the game could sustain that.

Items like the fungi tunic and the clicky masks were always hugely in demand, and kept old items relevant for years

Well for the masks I think that's probably just as much the effects as the stats, that's a little like pointing to the Orb of Deception and stating that WoW too has gear people seek 9 years afterward. Definitely I'm not disagreeing with you EQ 1 had a ton of horizontal progression, but pointing to a Clicky and Twink Item as 20 expansions of horizontal progression falls a little short. Unless the Barbarian mask is still BiS for rogues or something.

The constant desire to argue horizontal progression as a no-thought required panacea to all that ails us is just really tiresome. As are the drawn out comparisons to older games that are still 'going strong' thanks to horizontal progression. I mean if there's such a great horizontal progression MMO market out there why not play those games you keep using as examples?