Nice strawman with the Atma Grind, but yeah I remember it, and it was just as bad and stupid and unfun. At least for BLU we can bypass the BS. Doesn't change the fact that the whole original point of this side topic is that optimal and fun can are not mutually exclusive.
I'm not arguing against time sinks, I'm arguing against BAD time sinks. The incredibly grindy achievements are just as terrible and unfun as grinding Atma ever was, and I'll call out the bad ones as I see them because they're bad.
As for the solo friendly spells, I was a bit hyperbolic, but I did leave out a couple on purpose. The totem spells are just kinda freebies so yes they're technically solo friendly, but not all of them, and some have had alternative sources located since the time of my posting. I wouldn't consider 42 soloable, because that's most of the Carnivale needing to be beaten, and some of the fights very much need spells that are NOT easily soloable in order to succeed, at least so far as I have attempted. I'm also not aware of the solo options for a few of the spells you've listed, so apologies as information is still coming out, and all I had handy was an older list. I'd still argue the stronger and more fun spells are locked behind group content which is again at odds with the idea of a solo focused experience. It's worth noting though that not everyone likes to spoil things for themselves though, so if you're following the hints in the spell book, the number is much closer to that 15 I said, plus the few from Whalaquee Totems, so those players may be in a bad spot.
Finally, no need to be passive aggressive and condescending. Yes, the Carnivale is a solo experience. But there's still plenty of spell learning that's extremely preferred for you to party up which is great for those who want to but still undermines their vision for a solo oriented job, and I still argue that having important spells be tied to literally unsoloable content undermines the Carnivale to some extent as well.
Anyway we're absolutely not going to agree on this, so I'm just going to reiterate my point one final time that optimal can also be the most fun, because that's all I originally intended to say.