Quote Originally Posted by kurokawa View Post
mechanics are a separate issue. 11 was balls in general because of the grind and the leveling curve to 75. Not because of the areas.
And look at it now. Abyssea fixed the leveling curve but wrecked the area variety and party mechanics. Sad. BUT, they are trying to balance it out by tweaking exp gains in pre-zilart zones.

The end result is you can solo in normal zones if you don't feel like the CF grindfest that is Abyssea.

Still, there's no reason why we can't have a leveling curve that is challenging without being tedious, and area design that is immersible and varied.