The lore is set up in a way that their possibilities are pretty much endless. Now they just need to... y'know... implement these things!

I see your point, but what is wrong with having both?
Now you have both.. and surprise surprise, one is better than the other.

If you think that they can exist equally, you are not looking at this from a very practical point of view.

Further, it is detrimental if the playerbase is split between two primary group-based activities. To be able to do this kind of content you need other people, and if you have half of the server's population doing mob grinding and the other half leves... that's not very practical either.