Variance in player skill is hurting FFXIV's itemization design.

[Zojha]

[...]and combat is boring. Yes, boring.

I...personally don't find it boring. I find stats boring. They're background noise I completely forget about once I close the tab and I couldn't name a single one without looking them up. And not just in this game, in any game.

Moreover...

There you have it. No one is allowed to be weak, no one is allowed to play their own way, and everyone has to play the same game in the same way as everyone else.

This isn't entirely true. Ditch your soul crystal right now and come back saying you're not allowed to be weak or play your own way. It's just not optimal. But that's the point, is it not? To allow for vastly suboptimal decisions and build traps?