The issue with long term goals is that players who join late will be far behind everyone else.
A lot of people are complaining the Relic weapons quest is too long. Some who have been playing from launch and some who have joined later. But both group will complain it is too long and every few months a new relic upgrade will be release and they will complain again.

There is content which if dealt with directly will take you a long time to obtain. Housing, 4 star omni crater, lv50 all classes. Relic weapon etc... but majority of the people in the game will give up because they cannot be bothered or they have other priority.

In regards to gear, if new players were forced to go through the same cycle as those of us from launch they'll have a hard time catching up with everyone else.