Yoshida said 1 through 50 is a guide for end game so he made it easier especially since his target audience were gamers that were new to MMOs. So not many of them were experience. And also a majority of players in Japan are console players as well and they didn't want to discriminate against PS3 players.

This is all facts and data from his live letters and such. You're probably an experience MMO players so it might get you down a bit but end game is pretty tough and will give you a run for your gil. And the game barely came out so more content will be added for all kinds of player, casual to hardcore.