Quote Originally Posted by KraggyKor View Post
Now however it seems I am unable to carry on playing the Main Story as Primal HMs are now part of it, as the just-published translation of the last Producer Live clearly states. There'll be no 'story' Leviathin, only HM and EX. In FFXI terms this would be Chapter 6 (ending in the fight with Shadow Lord) requiring gear from Dynmis.

So FFXIV is now a hard-core gear grind with some story elements and not the story-based MMO with phat lewt available for those that want it.
If you read again you'll see they stated Leviathan HM has been tuned to take into account players that found Thornmarch too hard before it was toned down.
Thornmarch was toned down as well because a lot of players got stuck there and couldn't proceed with story.
I believe Thornmarch is also referred to as a "hardmode" because it's intended for 8 man parties.
For people that want more challenge, they then add the "extreme" versions.


Essentially, all new Primal fights will be "hardmode" because they're 8 man ones, and they will also get "extreme" versions at the same time, but because the new "hardmode" Primals belong to story, they will be tuned so that any proper 8 man party can take it on.