I only started doing FATEs when I was Atma hunting and I never paid much attention to them because I only cared about the drop. The way the books are structured is a lot better, since I have only 3 to focus at a time and I can read all the text and enjoy them in their entirety.

Now I have started to not care about them again since I enjoy leveling up through dungeons more. If they allowed your chocobo to get exp from FATEs, I'd have a reason to go back to them again. I only stop and do one if I see someone's alone and struggling these days.