Looking through this thread after I left it, and I have seen many different opinions on this. I felt like I need to address some of the points that should be brought up.

1) Even though I think that the content is too hard, I do agree that if they made some of the harder mechanics a little simpler or more visible the fight will be a lot more accessible to the players going towards Extreme. Some of the mechs are perfectly fine, it is just the outliers that skew the content straight into Savage.

2) I do think that the first iteration of Criterion is effectively a test to see how we feel about the content. It is okay to air out that it is not rewarding.

3) A few posts here highlight the crux of the problem: too difficult for casuals to try, too unrewarding for the hardcore's to return and help newer players or even reclear for self bragging rights.

4) I think many of you havent experienced this, but try to PF on a fresh alt character with fresh 610 gear on week 8. Almost no one will take you past P5S unless they know who you are. This is the gearing problem I think the game has, which stems from the "main only mentality" that PF would naturally have due to lack of access to gear. Having a hard but additional way to get additional resources and gear is huge.