@4 - it's more a dynamic system of balancing dungeons for speed running and other unforseeable not as designed variables.

The reasoning is that, players will seek the path of least resistance. If they find a way of exploiting that catches on, everyone will start doing it until the amount of reward that it gives decreases to the point where other dungeons are now worth doing again. 1 is similar in the regard.

And I say that because quite clearly, Square would *prefer* that players run it as intended... but players been players will always find the path of least resistance. Well, if they want players to run as intended, then they need to provide the proper incentives for this.

The current situation is: players will find exploit and that becomes the norm, unexploited dungeons no longer worth while doing, while players that play 'as intended' are shouted down by exploiting players. See Dark Devices.

A good design team should recognize human nature and design around it.