You know, this reminds me of a coworker I used to have. Every time they screwed something up, they'd just pass the blame: oh, well, we need to improve the processes; oh, well, it's just this client, they suck; oh, well, my computer was acting up; etc., etc., etc. Eventually, they got fired, because the company needs what it needs, it wants what it wants, and this individual wasn't delivering the way other people were.
SE is in a similar situation with FFXIV. They have a significant number of people still wanting FFXI-style content, at least alongside everything else that FFXIV does well. We continue to get uninspired, brainless grinds instead. They've got a choice: they can continue to pass the buck, as you seem to be (oh, different game, different time, different battle system, this is the best we can do), or they can find a solution, build the content. It's entirely their choice - but it absolutely is a choice. There is no outside force, no mysterious entity, that is somehow preventing the development team from emulating more of FFXI's mechanics in certain content. So, I will continue to demand better as long as I'm playing, and I will lay the blame for failures where it belongs: at SE's feet, not on some predetermined outcome foisted upon us by FFXIV's combat system.
I think people may have trouble communicating their desires with 100% clarity, but I maintain that I've never seen anyone asking for a boring, mindless, difficult grind. Virtually every grind-related complaint can be traced back to a desire for meaningful difficulty, or a desire for a deeper, more complex game world, or simply something entertaining that can occupy a player for longer periods of time. These requests are antithetical to mindless content, because mindless content, almost by definition, isn't meaningful, deep, complex, or entertaining for long periods of time.

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