I just don't get it.

[Damona]

...and all alternatives do is burden the community with arguments over optimization.

So ur telling me that we cant have arguments over optimization? No wonder that the game is in the sorry state it is, have fun grinding your ilvls for all eternity without any depth or anything else at all.

And dont worry OP, I dont get it either. I'll gladly play FFXIV as a resub MMO where I'll log in every 1 or 2 patches and play the catchup game for the primals and the story. But as an active MMO? I am not interested in savage or sitting on 230 gear which will be meaningless in a few patches anyways.

Cant do something? Hit a brick wall in a tough fight? Oh lets just wait 1-2 weeks until we can get some more lores, do we do something for that gear?
Nope, we just throw time at it, grind a bit and get 1337 ilvl gear without any effort at all. Why? Well the answer is painfully obvious and I dont think that it needs further explaination.

tl;dr: The game is good but could easily be amazing, but why go that route? Its a system that works and it isnt going to change anytime soon as it seems.