Horizontal progression? In MY theme park?!

[Remedi]

I insist we need the inventory issue fixed first before we can have serious talks about horizzontal progression

[Shurrikhan]

I insist we need the inventory issue fixed first before we can have serious talks about horizontal progression

That depends on how it's handled. In 1.x, for instance, all classes used -- to some extent -- every primary stat, and gear was locked only based on armor class, with all armor classes beneath one's own class's also available to your class. (Thaumaturge and Conjurers (who were both healers and casters back then, and the entirety of either "role") got cloth; Pugilists/Archers got cloth and leather; Lancers - cloth, leather, and mail; Marauders and Gladiators - all.)

If we were to go with a flexibly-allocated primary stat system, we could essentially collapse the number of sets needed to level everything to roughly half its current amount even while offering far more options to each job. And with certain sets being useful to multiple jobs each -- a piece's Dexterity+Intelligence being usable for either Direct Hit or Spell Speed, for instance, depending on the player-chosen direction of combination -- you could support more niche special stats without bloating inventory space beyond what we currently face.