I just think not being hand-fed everything is a signature of XI and part (not all) of what makes it unique. I like the fact that I can throw hundreds or event thousands of hours at the game if I chose to, yet still have more content left to do or items to collect. In recent years, the climb to cap has been eased, but it still takes time to fully gear any job exceptionally. Now anyone can try out BLU at high level, for example, but it'll take some time to get the best weapons, armor, spells, skill levels capped, etc. I like that it takes that time and gives my friends and I something to help each other with.

I spent 6 months with XIV and I'm pretty much done with it until new content comes out, with most jobs at cap, most of the best weapons earned, a craft at cap, and a gatherer at cap. SIX MONTHS AND DONE?!? I spent 2-3 weeks with WoW and was pretty much done with one class (Rogue). XI has more meat (content) to it, whether people like the way it's implemented or not, than most other MMOs out there. I have been playing XI since late 05 fairly heavily, with about a years worth of sabbaticals, and there's still so much I haven't seen or done. If the rewards and content were so easily gained, I would've been done by 06/07 and missed out on a lot of great/fun memories.

Camiie, the RNG can indeed bring out poor behavior by some, but people can also be good to each other as well. Passing on items for jobs that their friends adore more, for example. This makes this show of generosity more meaningful.