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

[Blarp]

Well, are you forced to tweak the car's settings endlessly as well? You do it because you enjoy it, not because you are forced to, by some almighty being, to do it. If you do not enjoy it, you are not forced to do it.

As far as variety, the developers are working on it. That's all they can do. What they can't do, is make leveling faster now because there is less variety and tune it down later when there is more variety. The status quo has to stay, because the playerbase would reject such change later on. They need to avoid nerfing, especially when it comes to such a delicate topic. It can't be always avoided, but in this case it can.

This is an issue that only time can fix, sadly.

I do enjoy FFXIV as a concept, but I don't enjoy the implementation of that concept in the current form. It all boils down to your last sentence. I haven't played for a year. Like many others, I squeed with excitement when it came time for launch, spent $60 on the CE, and immediately started playing. The game was not ready, so I figured I'd give it time to come around. The game is much better, but after five years of development, and a full year of patches, I was expecting much more. Time is a valuable commodity, and I thought one year was enough to add that variety that makes games interesting. They're on their way, but still have quite a long way to go.

I think for a player in my position, coming back after a year off, with no community of friends playing this MMO, that FFXIV asks an awful lot of new players and gives very little in return.