Letter From the Producer IX.

[Akumu]

so farming the same mobs for hours just to hopefully get a key to drop which was a very low drop rate, then to pray that the treasure chests aren't camp by a thf who runs around unlocking all the chests which can have a very long spawn rate.
if you dont remember, thats how you get AF/RSE gear in ffix.

not many quests in ffxi rewarded gear either. most if not all of the gear came from drops/crafts/bcnms. BCNMs which can be translated to an instanced dungeons.

You're wrong kind sir we all know WoW came up with everything first including dungeons.