Simplicity over complexity, time to change.

[Estevo]

And honestly nothing you mentioned will be implemented. The world belongs to people, and people in this case is a casual crowd. Those that doesn't really likes being locked out of some zones, run half an hour to a point (nobody but rare minority actually likes this) or having 20 sets for each class where only math guru really can understand what is better and when.
The game kept simple to be more accessible for everyone. And for hardcore there are things like coil, ex and now "professional" hunting.

People en masse likes concepts that wow popularized, like easy travelling, full access to zones, straightforward and easily understandable stat mechanics.

Man... I don't know if it's just me, but it seems like most of your post was unnecessary and rude.

I don't recall Yoshida ever saying this game was made for casuals, ever, and I've spent more than enough time looking at interviews and producer letters. What he did say was that he wanted to cater to both the casuals and the hardcore, oh and also that he was and still is a hardcore mmorpg player himself, so of course he doesn't want ARR to just be a casual game. He also said that he intentionally created the combat and content to be simple in the game, and how I interpret he meant this is that if you start out with a solid foundation then it will be easier to build off of it in any direction, and in that sense the game is full of potential!

With the solid combat system, it's possible to go in any direction with it, whether it be more strategy or action. It may be basic now, but I'd say it has great potential, and that's how you could sum up most of what's in the game right now. Of course there are certain systems that need to change or could be tweaked, but that's another story.