Quote Originally Posted by Lemuria View Post
Final Fantasy XIV has a wealth of equipment in the game, and much of it will never see the light of day beyond glamours. Why is this? Because of constant planned obsolescence.
I would disagree here. It is the premise of progression "as such" to make things you have progressed past obsolete. It doesn't matter "how" this progression happens. If you "have" the best option (for a given circumstance), there's no reason to pick anything else (for that circumstance). And there is no reason for players to strive for anything "but" the best option (for a given circumstance).

The current model ensures two things, namely that the most recent content is the most relevant and that progression never comes to a halt. Nothing more, nothing less. Aptly named treadmill after all. The alternative model will commonly produce content that's dead on arrival and allow players to steer themselves into a state of "game over" where there is no further way to progress. The latter model therefore typically relies on insane timesinks in order to push that state further away, as it would mean the player has no further incentive to stay.

That said, it ultimately comes down to preference. I have little issues with the current model, but then again, I play most of the classes and don't always need top of the line equipment, only "just enough" to be able to play the classes in current content at all.