Aside from all the horrid writing and pacing the MSQ was, I wonder if all this stems from Yoshi-P's article about "being done with Dark Fantasy"

You can't shower us with happy moments if there aren't dark things to get over, there has to be a balance.
You can't start the game with a world building of "Oh there's a bunch of dark stuff happening" and suddenly handwave them like they don't exist anymore, because people shared a dish. Were we supposed to mix Garlean Pizza with Sushi all along to make peace between the East and Garlemald?
People want a fantasy world, not a 1 for 1 copy of the ideals and morals of the real world, they want world building done in a believable way.

The first sign for me was when they wrote in the TWELVE RAID "Oh, don't be mad at the elementals, they are just showing their love." WHAT!?