What confuses me on the whole issue is that SE had a wonderful model they could have just ripped right out of Final Fantasy XII for hunts, but instead gave us what we have today. In fact, the problem with hunts is the exact same problem we had with fates when atmas were first introduced in 2.2. I have trouble believing that the developer didn't see these problems coming. Part of me is suspecting that this is all some sort of bureaucratic stunt so that the original direction of the game can be justified to their boss via criticism of some lazily implemented open world grinds. Another problem is that the feedback Yoshi is getting from the forums may not be getting filtered to him properly. A single developer cannot keep reading loads of angry stuff and still have a healthy, balanced view of the situation forever.