Simplicity over complexity, time to change.

[Felessan]

I see way less people in mor dhona, I see way less combat activity in PF. Almost half of it is just merchant advertisement and coil static recruitment. Hunt is garbage tier content that the majority are doing because they're forced into it.

I'm... well-connected, so I see a lot of different people. People I'm telling about is just casuals/very mild hardcore. They don't go to raids and play generally limited amount of time. They have nothing to do in 2.0-2.1. Now they got their Zodiac weapon questline, sporadic hunting activity, rooms to decorate, all this keeps people in game.
On other hand I have FC full of people at/past T9. Those who wanted "get in pass content, go to next MMO" - already left, and last wave was around start of 2.2. Now only dedicated raiders left and they just do stuff they want - raiding, hunting hardcore, earning money.
And (as I said in all those "cry me a river" Hunt treads) party finders already starts to liven up, as people farmed/got bored with hunts and go back to usual activities. I already see 10-15 entries, ppl even start trying Ramuh in random parties.

I never meant to make his words what I want, Yoshida has a vision of what he wants in the future, and pretty deep into the future too from what I've heard. So with this in mind I thought about why he would want all these systems to be simple right off the bat.

You treat simplicity as something bad. Back from when I worked as some kind of designer there was a golden rule - KISS - Keep It Short and Simple.
Being simple does not means it lacks depth, board games have simple rules, but being a master in them is hard as hell. It much easier to organize depth and balance difficulty for simple things than for overcomplicated things.

I am moving to Destiny. It is not a real MMO but neither is XIV with all the instances. And I will actually get to explore the world!

You will be displeased.
Sans PvP (that just more or less clone to any other multiplayer shooter) it's the same theme park MMO with vertical progression and focus on dungeons and raids. Just look at leaked list of content - dungeons, hard mode dungeons and raids.

This is the defense that is always used when someone brings up horizontal progression and stat diversity and it really isn't true. For one, as stats get more complex, the less other people tend to care about your gear as long as it is level and job appropriate.

One of the problem with horizontal progression that it makes whole "ilvl or bust" goes beyond clouds. Every single situation will be min-maxed and people with non-optimal equipment will be shunned. And getting 5 sets of gear is a larger stress than getting 1 set.