I dont understand how gear being relevant longer is an argument. Why exactly? is glamour not good enough? I still glam the allagan casting set from first coil. Also Im questioning if people understand what horizontal progression is. Its adding stats to gear for other situations, Extra elemental or enfeeble resistances, increased regen potency, are just a couple examples of horizontal progression in a gear based game. They do not replace your primary gear but are used in places required. This game does not have elemental resists and is very well balanced because of stripping away these horizontal progressions. If added you will see demands for certain gear for specific content, and if you dont have it you will be left out, with good reason. You will also have even more inventory issues then you are having now, I see people saying they already use 4 retainers.

Adding horizontal progression to a game that is primarily vertical creates problems as well. You now have tons of false options just like our current stat allocations, there is a right and wrong way to do it, thats not a choice but more of a trick.

If they added horizontal progression to XIV I would rather have it entirely seperate from gear and make it into advanced skill trees where your choices and customization might actually matter. Keep in mind though the community will pick and choose favorite builds, and lazy players will just mimic it, once again creating a false choice.

I prefer XIV the way it is and when I crave horizontal gameplay I have plenty of games to do it in.