Fully agree with that sentiment, and good write up overall! Though I recon there are enough people that also like the on rails approach of the fights, especially now after years of this being "the way" FFXIV combat works. (Perhaps in the future, there is Savage for the tried raidplan approach, and, say, Criterion for a more organic design, so players can chose what kind of endgame they prefer?)
Makes me wonder how the new battle content approach in 7.2 is supposed to look, really.