Quote Originally Posted by Cilia View Post
Genuinely difficult content (Extreme, Savage, and Ultimate) is there for players who want it. The MSQ should not be designed to kill you; this game's focus is on it's story, whether or not you like a given line, and all content is set to "Easy Mode" by default. Besides which, you don't have a full toolbox below the level cap - and because of that ever growing toolbox, even simple 6.X bosses can be more complex than high difficulty 2.X ones.

Difficult story bosses can be incredibly rewarding (hello pre-nerf Shinryu!) but it's not the wisest course for drawing in and retaining non-hardcore players, and as an MMO there needs to be as wide an audience as possible.
The thing about it is that the story doesn't teach you how to play the game or how to play your job correctly. It doesn't encourage you to get better or even bother trying. Soon all of the MSQ outside of trials will be soloable, which I imagine those will follow shortly thereafter judging by the level 89 trial. If you teach players or encourage players to play their jobs better, you can naturally ramp up difficulty without really making it feel like the game is becoming so difficult it is unplayable for new players. You can make things a bit more punishing, make DPS checks a bit harder or more prevalent, make healing more engaging by slowly ramping up the difficulty and having a progression of it vs the upside down bell curve that we have in EW when it comes to the dungeon difficulty. Tower of Zot should be the norm, not the exception when it comes to dungeon design with bosses and even the last couple trash pulls that can be punishing if you don't understand how to play your job.