it should be fairly easy to fix. I did like FFXI because when new content released new gear, it didnt' really obsolete old gear. it was just another option.

Much like Dark/Demon souls there was no really best armor. just better armor for certain situations. As a PLD main I generally carried 3 sets of armor. magic tanking set, phys tanking set, haste set. and swapped pieces in and out for w/e we were fighting. in general the haste set was the most useful.

If they aren't replacing entire gear sets at a time i think it will work well. IE: new content releases new body armor only. or new materia only. right now we have primals = weapons and dungeons = armor. and each dungeon doesn't have a full gear set. it's spread out across multiple dungeons. if they are releasing new content every 3-6 months. and 'obsoleting' only part of your gear set i think that is far more tolerable for the masses.

They also hinted at challenging solo content for epic gear. I'd rather see this as materia though.

Personally I'd love to see Primals = weapons(Including shields). Dungeons = armor. solo = materia.

In this fashion we are getting new gear/goals to work towards. but we aren't replacing everything all at once. that shiny Garuda weapon I got will be good for at least a year, because they will likely release a new dungeon/solo content before a new primal where i would get a new weapon.