Quote Originally Posted by kaynide View Post
The game has always been designed so you wouldn’t need to grind long and hard to be current.
Definitely this.

A player can take a break right after completing MSQ in December 2021 and come back after 6.5 and be on the same level gear-wise as players that played every day from 6.0 to 6.5. Finish MSQ, take a break for ~18 months. Sign back in - buy some i640 (presumably) crafted gear and you already are ahead of the last raid tier. In theory, you probably could buy cheap i610 crafted gear instead and still qualify for doing expert in 6.5 too. Farm your capped tomestones and raid (if that's your thing). Yesterday's gear does not build into today's gear (relic weapon aside).