It's almost impossible to level a new character now. What gives, SE?

[Quanta]

Agree with pretty much all of this. The current leveling system equals simulated content, whereas stuff like the new Ifrit instance is actual content. I don't know why so many people think leveling should be 90% of a game. It's asinine is what it is.

They put up with levelling because they want the game to be around for years, and developers have convinced them that the only way to do that is to stretch things out for as long as possible. This way, the developer can divide its content up between different level ranges, rather than having it scale dynamically with the individual.

In reality, the levelling process should be a natural thing, to the point where you almost don't realize that it's happening. Instead, you sit in front of your screen with your eyes fixated on your experience bar, and the game makes every attempt to remind you that, yes, you are level 16, and no, you can't wear that bitchin' armor made from the body of a demon and shoots lasers from the pauldrons; that armor's for good little boys and girls who can endure 50 levels worth of the same repetitive tasks over and over again.