The only logical position to take on this matter, is that of a business, more specifically, Square Enix.

MMOs around and before FFXI's time consisted of a playerbase that had, on average, more time than the typical player. Thus, it makes sense for the developers of such a game to make a game largely for that player base.

Today, however, the playerbase for all MMOs have changed. The regulars are still there, but with the addition of other player groups the proportion has shifted and it is necessary for SE to change as well. Imagine if FFXIV playerbase was 90% teenage girls. SE, if it wanted to be successful, would develop primarily for their largest group of players and largely ignore or merely appease, so long as it does not prevent them from catering to their largest base, the 10% left over

SE has statistics for how long people log in, and probably are able to get a wealth of information that allows them to decide more clearly than any of us what direction they should take.

Seeing as how SE plans on developing the majority of the content for players with a few hours of playtime per day/wk, and also developing a few places where players with more time can play... I would guess that the vast majority of players are 'casual' (Less time to play) and a small minority consist of the 'hardcore' (More time to play).

Now, there is ANOTHER group of players that are both made up of casual and hardcore players. And this is of the Good and Bad players. Casual players have little time on their hands, but they can still be good players. Hardcore players have more time on their hands, but they can still be bad players.

My personal opinion is... that THIS is where the debate lies. On how difficult the content should be, as there lies areas where both good and bad players can enjoy content... and on both extremes the very bad players will not enjoy the most challenging content, and the very good players will not enjoy the content that is least challenging.

The proportion of challenging and unchallenging content is the single most important issue, not the hardcore/casual regurgitated argument that serves no other purpose than for personal venting.

Now, what proportion should the challenging and unchallenging content be??? It should be based 100% entirely on the playerbase. I could only guess at this, while SE can actually bring up statistics to see who killed Batraal and how fast, for example. So, SE is in the best position to make these decisions, and it follows that they would be implementing them in this manner DESPITE any effort on the forums no matter how vocal.