This game forces itself to make content easier. It's designed purely as a treadmill of linear progression, with each piece of new gear becoming the new standard that everyone is expected to reach. That means that players unable to complete the content are locked away behind a wall that they can't overcome much of the time. This leads to players getting frustrated and either quitting, or milling about repeating the same content ad nauseum.

Even with the 'nerfs', coil remains a hardcore gaming element with many players not even past the first coil, let alone the second or third. The people who run it these days tend to have very strict rules about what new members can or cannot do, and it can be very off-putting for players to see 'screw up, get kicked' on every single Party Finder Party for this sort of thing.

If this game had a different form of progression, or more options for how to achieve said progression there would be no issue with having some true hardcore content. Players need to feel they're getting somewhere, regardless of what content they're running. If they don't see any progress it just leads to confusion and tedium. It's the reason why the crafting 'wall' sucks, and why I've constantly complained about the Zodiac grind.

Heavensward will be a breath of fresh air for a bit, adding lots of new content in the game. But unless SE changes their core ideals, it's a short-lived gaming model. Linear progression isn't the only way forwards, and the sooner SE realize that and give us options to explore the sooner the hardcore will truly have their hard content.