You do know this game is over 8 years old now? You do realize that many players have grown up, married, moved out of their parents basement, got jobs, kids etc. There is nothing wrong with easing up on the difficulty as the player base matures. It was a godsend for those of us with a RL. We could feel like everything was no longer a roadblock but a progressing quest.
Like any game, you can make it as easy or as hard as you need and there is no reason to lock lesser players out of content by making things so discouragingly hard. If you think Abyssea is easy... don't put on any atmas or cruor buffs. Hard enough for you?
I feel every bit a sense of accomplishment when I finished my Empy weapon, my Af3+2. The fact that it didn't take 3 years of collecting points with an endgame LS didn't lessen the satisfaction. Trio'ing some of the level 90 NM's is still a challenge if you are not on your toes.
Anyways, you are entitled to your opinion. I think you are wrong and suspect most of the FFXI population felt Abyssea was fun and successful.