I currently don't like raiding in FFXIV 2.0 and I will explain you why. First of all, after some reflection of my MMORPG experience in past years, I found out that I think raiding is fun as long as they offer an unique experience.
I can break it down into two distinct feature sets:
1) Unique can mean that the raid itself is different every time.
2) Unique can mean that it is exciting to get rewards.
Now I'll try to explain how other games have achieved this.
MOBA or FPS games: They offer an unique experience because it is PvP based and no match will be the same (generally). So they are fun.
A MMORPG I played before, Granado Espada (very niche game), offered 100% exact same bosses every raid, but had (not anymore now, but in the past) a loot system in which you would have the chance to get great rewards. It was (to some extent) fun.
FFXIV 2.0 until being some time at level 50:
1) The raids did offer a little bit of uniqueness in boss AI, though this only holds for first few runs.
2) The raids offered enough newly obtainable loot to make it fun to do the raid and hope on nice rewards.
Now I am here, else i wouldn't be making this post, on full AK gear and a few pieces of DL and Relic (not Relic+1 yet). And I do not think it is fun anymore, because:
1) The raids offer no unique experience at all anymore in terms of execution, I have seen WP/AK/CM/Preatorium so many times now and they do not offer anything different from the first time I ran them.
2) They drop no loot anymore. I have done AK mostly and I have noticed that it was fun when I still had the chance to obtain new loot, but now there is just no chance anymore and no fun. It feels like a massive grind, and it is.
One other personal experience is that I found it fun to farm Ifrit/Garuda weapons, but once I obtained them, I dislike those trials a lot.
What do I think Square Enix could do about it?
1) I don't think we can expect to get a more unique raid execution experience. The bosses do not have intelligent AI and I do not expect that it will change, it will be getting the drill of a certain boss and then it will the same over and over again.
2) I think we can expect something here. For example I do agree that Philosophy/Mythology Tomestones need to stay, but only as consilidation reward. It would be very cool if they would add some drops that are rare to find and do offer improvements. Think about ilv65 every few runs and ilv 70 very rarely dropping from AK.
What about me? Why don't I move on?
Honestly, I cannot see myself farming for Philosophy Tomestones over and over again. It is simply not fun, so as a consequence I will not be geared in full Darklight, and it will be hard for me to continue the raiding game, namely Bahamut's Coil. Though I will do it whenever I have the chance for it.
The future:
I am interested in patch 2.1 as it will definately offer more progress paths. I opt in for Crystal Tower for sure and maybe get good enough gear to not be an extra weight in Bahamut's Coil groups. Will see what the Extreme (or Nightmare?) primal battles have to offer. But I will be capped out at some point, assuming I can progress into Bahamut's Coil, and then I think I will need to have a break from the game again. Not the ideal situation.
Now I am interested about your opinions on my experiences, and how you think about this and if it even is an issue for you at all or not.
EDIT: Forgot to mention. But as a solution to the current situation, I will try to level another class, see if I can get any of the fun back of doing the raids to progress in terms of gear. Though one sidenote is that I have free access to Grand Company gear, which is a bit lame.