How am I meant to level with a friend now?

[LuxLex]

Also, I don't give two craps whether you think XI is hard or not, just to be clear. Fun is what matters. If you find grinding hundreds of puks (or whatever) to go from level 33-34 "hard" ... um okay. Fun? Really?

I find taking on NMs solo in abyssea to be fun. But people here think it is "easy" and that NMs should be party only content. (Witness the biggest complaint about THMs was that they could solo nms. Really? Give me a break) That's nuts. I don't find it fun to mindlessly grind.

Soloing the dark lord? Man that is FUN.

time sinks do not equal difficulty
endlessly grinding is not fun

You are free to disagree, but most paying mmo players are on my side.