I remember killing Akylios in Rift prenerf, or killing Ragnaros in Vanilla WoW early on, I remember finishing blackwing lair for the first time, every kill in AQ up through twin emps.

I remember all of that. Incredible experiences, all of the way through to the end.

Hard content is rewarding content, if you care to put the time in.

Someday OP, someday a dev will take the risk and develop and MMO for MMO players. But for now, expect FF14 to be really casual. I'm just using it as a time filler until spring when ESO comes out (not that I expect that to be hard, or even good, but at least it'll be something new). I can already tell by spring 2014 ill probably be really bored of this game, if I even stick around that long.