I played Everquest. I played Wow, but not FFXI. PLAYED is the key word. Why did I stop? REAL LIFE happened. Less play time. More responsibility. A kid. So, why would I want to have to spend HOURS trying to get content complete? Yes, I loved EQ and it had its time. It was fun leveling in it. I still remember on release day falling out of the trees, dying and losing my corpse. Back then, they allowed people to drag them for you to a safe spot.

Now, I am happy with a game that requires less work and has less penalties for dying. I enjoy being able to log in, mess around with dailys or getting a map, maybe a hest and a low lvl on one of my up and coming jobs. Or I can queue up for some CT or a dungeon regardless of who is on and ready to go from my friends, linkshell or FC list. I feel like I got something done even in a limited amount of time. No, this play style is not for everyone. However, as the original gaming community ages, and gaming becomes more mainstream it is a wise direction for a company to take. By appealing to those who have a strong nostalgia for gaming, but not the time anymore to be "hard core" they can capture a segment of the market that is perhaps under-marketed to.

That being said. I would like to see less low level dungeons and more progression. Rehashing old content by slapping some new code into it and then marketing it as hard mode doesn't appeal to me, a casual player, anymore than to the player who constantly pushes the limit. In fact.. its kind of insulting. We need more forward challenges, not sideways ones.