Why vertical progression is poorly implemented

[Critical-Limit]

I have seen enough gears set swapping to know it is a bane of this galaxy. Do you remember the time where no one will invite you to exp pt unless you have so and so gear? I do.

I don't.

Why do people assume horizontal progression MUST be exactly like XI.

They could do horizontal progression PURELY through materia. Want to beat the new earth based boss guy? If you saved stackable materia you're already ready. If you need to farm maybe RNG from spirit bond, maybe super rare stats or high grade comes from hard fights.

Go fight titan EX, to get grade VI materia earth resistance. Make the new boss winnable without but make earth resistance materia make the fight eaiser in that you can make a few more mistakes.

No longer need that weapon cuz it's still vertical progression? Have the goblin rip it out for some kind of currency, or w/e.

[Alahra]

They could do horizontal progression PURELY through materia. Want to beat the new earth based boss guy? If you saved stackable materia you're already ready. If you need to farm maybe RNG from spirit bond, maybe super rare stats or high grade comes from hard fights.

There is no way FFXIV's general playerbase would be happy with that, given how people already dislike needing to grind various things to progress. People want to be able to quickly get into endgame content (to the point where even needing to gear up via Law tomes/Alexander NM already bothers some players), and adding materia-gates to end-game content would defeat the purpose of catch-up content like Hunts and 24-man Raids, which are meant to help people get into or progress through more difficult content.

WoW already did this and they ultimately abandoned it because it made the barriers for newer players too high.