It's really surprising and rather disappointing to see so many people against the idea of being able to choose your difficulty for raids and primal fights. Games are a form of entertainment made for an audience of various lifestyles. This is especially true in an MMO like FFXIV where we literally collaborate with other players on an international scale. Why is it that there's a notion that MMO or "endgame" content must be for the "hardcore" players? We're not even talking about rewards here as Ren has stated in the original post that players choosing the easy modes would not be getting NM or raid gears.

What's so wrong about allowing players to experience content which they have worked to become eligible for? Would you tell someone they're not allowed to see a film because they don't understand the underlying themes of the movie despite the fact that they are able to enjoy the story on a surface level? Adding an easy mode with reduced reward to "endgame" content doesn't take away anything from the "hardcore" players. Players overcoming the regular and harder difficulties can still keep their inflated egos with their special gear while players choosing the easy route will get to experience the full battle with higher survivability rates while foregoing the superfluous rewards.

The point is, not every player is going to be a hardened video game veteran with over a decade of experience under their belts. Some players are just here to chat and experience the content because they love the world, or Final Fantasy or just enjoy doing things with friends. And if SE's goal is to reach out to as wide a player base as possible, this would be one idea that could be taken into consideration. For the time being, I hope your friends can overcome their challenges with the high level content currently available.