Simplicity over complexity, time to change.

[Zantetsuken]

Horizontal progressions sounds nice but it's a utopia. Someone will do the math, will find the best combination, and anybody who won't follow will be ignored/left behind.

Have players discovered the mathematically best character in Ultra Street Fighter IV? Is there a mathematically superior color in any recent release of Magic the Gathering? Where are mathematically best choices in DOTA2 or League of Legends, or Pokemon, or weapons in CoD, or Diablo Builds, or Starcraft factions, etc. etc. etc. ?

Have you ever played Dark Souls or Monster Hunter? What is the best weapon is in either of those games? In a properly developed horizontal system, all choices have advantages and disadvantages that require players must weigh in finding what best fits their play-style.

Those games are great games because they have DEPTH. As players become more skilled in the game, they discover more subtle aspects of each build. The variety of choices they offer the players means that those players will be constantly experimenting and working to find style that works best for them.

ARR, on the other hand, has no real decisions to make and no depth -- Every job performs mathematically the same as every other job in it's role. Only the appearances and the order of their rotations is different. Gear has a single stat: iLvl. Everything in ARR is equal and equally dull. ARR is a place where players won't have to think about anything while they play (Apparently, thinking=stress for today's mass market MMO demographic). The design philosophy of 'accessibility and no-stress' ensures that ARR will be on the same track for years to come.

Horizontal progression is hardly a utopia. It has be demonstrated to work effectively in many, MANY games. But it is more difficult/expensive to create, and it requires players to invest a bit into the game in order to get more out of it.

[Krr]

Have players discovered the mathematically best character in Ultra Street Fighter IV? Is there a mathematically superior color in any recent release of Magic the Gathering? Where are mathematically best choices in DOTA2 or League of Legends, or Pokemon even?

Have you ever played Dark Souls or Monster Hunter? What is the best weapon is in either of those games?

Dark Souls and Monster Hunter both feature vertical progression placed alongside horizontal progression. In fact, the only real difference in their progression structure from FFXIV is that the horizontal options have more breadth. There are even "BiS" sets for various weapons in MonHun for high levels of play. The rest of the games you mentioned are competitive multiplayer games in design formats that have nothing to do with MMORPGs.

And yes, we can prove the mathematically best characters in DOTA, LoL, Pokemon, and Street Fighter. Competitive scenes almost always feature option tier lists, which are actually derived from the real-life success rates of characters in various matchups. (DOTA and League, being team games, are a little more complex, mind you, but heroes still have matchups.)

(Right now, in Dark Souls 2, the best weapon is probably the Chaos Blade, with its high AR, wide swing arc, a pretty friggin' good thrust attack, and fast attack rate, that for some reason got buffed even though it was part of 'the meta' to begin with. Mathematically, it wins a hell of a lot of the time when evenly skilled opponents fight. Mathematically, this makes it a strictly better and stronger weapon than others in PvP. Don't get me started on the nonexistent choices in secondary options due to the massive tier gap for off-hand options.)

[Zantetsuken]

Dark Souls and Monster Hunter both feature vertical progression placed alongside horizontal progression. In fact, the only real difference in their progression structure from FFXIV is that the horizontal options have more breadth. The rest of the games you mentioned are competitive multiplayer games in design formats that have nothing to do with MMORPGs.

By 'more breadth' I assume you mean that DS and MH have 'a healthy amount' as opposed to FFXIV's 'none at all'

The list of games that I mentioned are proof that horizontal systems have been successfully implemented and are a now a standard feature in nearly every single modern genre. ARR's purely vertical system is hearkens back to those old arcade games from the 1980s

[Krr]

By 'more breadth' I assume you mean that DS and MH have 'a healthy amount' as opposed to FFXIV's 'none at all'

You're right, there is zero horizontal progression in FFXIV. Every time you get a piece of new gear the only thing that increases is its primary stat, and there are no secondary stats with questionable benefits and drawbacks that give us more than one option at each item level tier. The problem is, obviously, that these secondary stats need to be invented. For instance, how about one of these stats gives my attack more raw power, while the other lets me execute them faster, another makes them more accurate, and another still increases my chance to randomly do more damage with an attack?

Obviously, the problem is that these horizontals don't exist, and has nothing to do with their lack of balance.

(You really seriously have never analyzed good MonHun builds if you think that game is horizontal in the slightest. Each weapon has one of like, three pre-defined skill setups you work towards that are about as static as talent tree builds in WOTLK-era WoW - no one sane uses a Greatsword set that doesn't have Focus, Quick Draw, and as much +Power because that's the only way to make Greatswords good at what they do. And the difference between a Greatsword, and say, a Lance is no more 'horizontal' than the difference between a Paladin and a Dragoon.)

[Zantetsuken]

You're right, there is zero horizontal progression in FFXIV. Every time you get a piece of new gear the only thing that increases is its primary stat, and there are no secondary stats with questionable benefits and drawbacks that give us more than one option at each item level tier. The problem is, obviously, that these secondary stats need to be invented. For instance, how about one of these stats gives my attack more raw power, while the other lets me execute them faster, another makes them more accurate, and another still increases my chance to randomly do more damage with an attack?

Obviously, the problem is that these horizontals don't exist, and has nothing to do with their lack of balance.

No, the problem is that they DID exist in 1.23(as did an elemental wheel), but were stripped out of the game in ARR.

You really seriously have never analyzed good MonHun builds if you think that game is horizontal in the slightest. Each weapon has one of like, three pre-defined skill setups you work towards that are about as static as talent tree builds in WOTLK-era WoW - no one sane uses a Greatsword set that doesn't have Focus, Quick Draw, and as much +Power because that's the only way to make Greatswords good at what they do. And the difference between a Greatsword, and say, a Lance is no more 'horizontal' than the difference between a Paladin and a Dragoon.)

Those builds in MH are defined by the players rather than the game.

Furthermore, players can individually adapt builds to better fit their style. A Greatsword player has access to a VAST amount of skills to tailor as they please. Some may be better than others, but certain situations call for different skills and so there are even per-monster builds.

FFXIV is a one-size-fits-all styem. Every job/weapon/armor/must be equally viable in all circumstances.

In a way, I don't blame the devs much for the gimmicky endgame fights, it's the only way to make the game appear interesting, given the boring growth system they appear to be handcuffed to.