I think SE should just make it a 1-2 person dungeon and with maybe a chocobo or something. That way newer players can experience it at their leisure. Make the monsters a bit weaker or something so it can be solo'd by a new player. I feel bad every time a new player gets dicked in meran/prae and then they think the rest of the game is like this since the "last boss" experience was so shit, without knowing the game actually goes on for much more content.

Plus it makes more sense lore wise. I mean you have 8 ppl riding magitek mounts in prae? Wtf?