Being able to wear anything anytime kill's the crafter's market. Who actually buys R1 gear, R10 gear, R20 Gear and so on when levelling a new class, I think I am safe to say hardly anyone though I am sure some people will flock in and say they do speaking for the "majority". It's completely pointless, I tried to only use gear appropriate for my rank but once I realised there is very little difference you might as well just wear your R50 gear from your previous class for the most part which is what I have started doing and it makes hardly any difference at all.

One thing I miss from FFXI was getting to that next Rank so I could equip that next piece of gear I had been waiting for (that would actually do something) or getting that next weapon. You don't get that at all in FFXIV because you can wear it anytime and the stats don't do a lot. Yes you could wait until you are the proper rank to equip gear but it still wouldn't be the same feeling when you have to apply the restriction yourself.