they ultimately want to tap the FF market overall, and they are hedging their bets on ps3, so marketing to a specific part of the FFXI market (not everyone who played ffxi wants super rare HNMs and 1 year to get to level cap, and 10 different armor sets for their main class) is a bad idea, since ffxi already failed to capture their full audience.

Also since its going to be on ps3, the game requirements will be met by people who just have a ps3, who tend to be more casual than you r average MMO master. I think its a good idea that they take the focus of the game away from leveling, most casual people level by accident. While i think there should be multiple paths to getting stronger, the idea that every MMO must present itself in a grind (leveling in no context) format is not necessarily the only path, so its good that he says they want to take the focus off of leveling.

keep in mind that just because they want to appeal to a wider market doesnt mean they can have no appeal to a niche market at the same time. such a possibility exists within the large framework of MMOs.

They can have interesting quests and adventures for the casual, hardcore challenging dunegeons and bosses for the hardcore (skill wise not time sink wise) They can make it so you have multiple paths to leveling, so that maybe a casual person may do more leves, or quests, and maybe a hardcore person will blast through high level monsters in a team.

For example(at high levels think 40+) if the casual dude can get 24k an hour, that is a signifigant progress, and if the hardcore can get 28k an hour (with no limitations on time, or amount of grind) he is making enough more to be worth it, and will over time make signifigant progress level wise.
in that type of system both become worthwhile ways to level, one with less hassle, but maybe limited in how often, the other has no limitations, is slightly better, and available whenever, but maybe requires a team and a more difficult path.


regardless, Leveling should not be the be all and end all of a FF game, im glad they seem to be taking that angle.