I agree and disagree.

Should there be difficult content: Yes, definitely.

Should everything be difficult to acquire just to impose a false sense of accomplishment: No.

The 'personal chocobos' aren't really all that personal. I'm hoping that they'll implement some female chocobos as all of the rental and company issued chocobos are male and then we can get into the intricacies of former Final Fantasy titles.

As of right now though, no, you shouldn't have to do anything to rent a chocobo. That idiotic four hour waste of life in XI was absolute BS in my opinion, and the raising aspect in XI was a bit over the top, especially for the randomness in outcomes and reward involved.

Tone down XI's breeding requirements and make getting the desired outcome a little less random and I think you have a fairly balanced chocobo system. Honestly though I'd rather they get the battle/armory/job system foundations pinned down before adding more intricate events.

As of right now I'm okay with the simple implementation but I do hope they have something more in store in regards to chocobos and airships.