Item level compression in Heavensward?

[Osias_Qol]

All they need to do is slow down and minimize the ilvl increments, and slant the game towards a more horizontal model.

In my opinion Horizontal progression will never be able to work in this game the way people from say XI remember it working in that game.

In XI it was all about min maxing specific stats for specific skills or actions and so gear swapping via macros (precast, midcast, endcast, TPing, WSing, so on) was a big deal. It made horizontal progression a big deal.

In this game the stats are so streamlined with no way or need to change gear mid fight. What would they do to add horizontal progression that is meaningful?

They can add some kind of ability enhancements or set bonuses to make you consider raw stats or bonus but that is about all I can see with such a stream lined system.
They can start to bloat the game with new stats like double attack but some how I think they want to avoid that.

We have the BIS raid/tome gear. We have gear with materia slots allowing us to shoot for perfect stat weights. The rest is just to fill in gaps or for looks/fun.

Like WoW the system is just set up to be super vertical. It doesn't matter if you slow the vertical progression because the game is just not set up to make use of horizontal progression.