Why vertical progression is poorly implemented

[Ibi]

Now I'll admit I never hit level cap in FFXI when I played, so my knowledge of that game is limited to what I've heard friends describe, but my opinion on OTHER horizontal progression games that I've hit endgame is that it kills my interest since I'll never grow stronger beyond tweaking, min-maxing, and developing new but similar powered character builds. It always feels like there is nothing to look forward to when it comes to my character.

This is absolutely one of the major drawbacks to a horizontal progression system. Any increases in player power become minimal, and it can take literal years before you can return to old content and actually notice the difference.

The game was originally cappped at level 50 (like this one) but by the time it released in NA, the first expansion had raised the level cap to Level 75. Four or five years after that, the level cap was raised to 90 in a series of mini-expansions, and then sometime after that (I can't remember exactly how long) the level cap was increased to 99. A few years after that, they instituted item levels mostly as we understand them here (which is where the game now stands).

To fill in the actual dates:

• 05/2002: JP PS2 launch, level cap is 50.
• 09/2002: Level cap raised to 55.
• 11/2002: Level cap raised to 60.
• 04/2003: Level cap raised to 65 in Rise of the Zilart pre-patch. Expansion goes live a couple of days later.
• 07/2003: Level cap raised to 70.
• 10/2003: NA PC launch.
• 12/2003: Level cap raised to 75.

(Source for the above)

The cap remained at 75 for six and a half years, until the Abyssea add-ons were introduced in the second half of 2010. Those raised the cap to 90, where it paused for a while, then continued to 99 by the end of 2011.

• 06/2010: Vision of Abyssea is released. Level cap increased to 80.
• 09/2010: Scars of Abyssea is released. Level cap increased to 85.
• 12/2010: Heroes of Abyssea is released. Level cap increased to 90.
• 09/2011: Level cap increased to 95.
• 12/2011: Level cap increased to 99.

Finally, item levels were first introduced in 07/2013.

For all the time in between those periods, the game has been horizontal

Although this is generally true, there were definitely instances of gear being introduced that could obsolete a lot of older stuff even when the level cap wasn't increasing. In particular, events like Limbus and Salvage added new sets that you would completely replace older items (but due to FFXI's ability to change equipment in combat though, it's rare that you'd ever replace all your gear for a particular slot with any upgrade).