The general player base needs to improve

[ShanXiv]

That's because this game is catering too much to these player base,
The difficulty of MSQ quest & leveling contents are one of the easiest I've seen in a MMO.

In ARR beta, the Ul'dah LV14(or15?) MSQ boss fight is harder than now, I wiped twice,
then figured out I've to use one Antidote（a reward of previous quest) to cure the poison debuff. it was a tricky design, I like it

but in the retail version, the boss fight is super easy, quite boring
because some people complained it's too hard in the forum, and SE listened to them....
because the contents are designed under such standard, then more cry babies will stay, more players that seek for challenging, or normal difficulty contents, will leave

[Nestama]

snip

It was only hard because the Poison ticked for around 20-30 damage per second (probably). Even having an antidote on hand wasn't enough to save you from death, since the boss would just do it again (and Antidote would then be on cool down). DPS pretty much needed to have Cure cross-classed so they wouldn't have to worry too much about the Poison.

Anyway, you haven't touched/cleared Extreme Primals since Ravana EX. SE have also been making the dungeon bosses in SB a little more interesting compared to ARR and HW bosses. They actually have (although easy to learn) mechanics! And ignoring them could get you KO'd! I think it might be safe to say that the dungeons we have now are tougher than what Pharos Sirius originally was in 2.1.

[ShanXiv]

It was only hard because the Poison ticked for around 20-30 damage per second (probably). Even having an antidote on hand wasn't enough to save you from death, since the boss would just do it again (and Antidote would then be on cool down). DPS pretty much needed to have Cure cross-classed so they wouldn't have to worry too much about the Poison.

Anyway, you haven't touched/cleared Extreme Primals since Ravana EX. SE have also been making the dungeon bosses in SB a little more interesting compared to ARR and HW bosses. They actually have (although easy to learn) mechanics! And ignoring them could get you KO'd! I think it might be safe to say that the dungeons we have now are tougher than what Pharos Sirius originally was in 2.1.

I've mentioned many times before: I am a casual or mid-core player now, I don't like the "jume rope" things, had played too much of these in WOW.

if I want to raid, if I want to play hardcore things again, I will play WOW.
but after I tried XIV1.1x-1.2x, I felt like I've finally found my true love MMO , really like the mid-core & party contents, and the community, they are more fun & memorable than WOW & ARR

After I bought the diablo3 ,I told myself I will not buy & play Blizzard games anymore, but now ARR is a WOW clone... the graphics, music & stories are good though

[Nestama]

I've mentioned many times before: I am a casual or mid-core player now, I don't like the "jume rope" things, had played too much of these in WOW.

Again, Extreme Primals is midcore content. Why else would I keep bringing it up? I recommend you try Lakshmi, Susano and Byakko Extreme.

Fun story, Byakko bugged out and got four people in my group KO'd (myself included). We contemplated on just wiping it, but instead we pushed on. Tank LB3'd as per usual and the healers gradually raises us. We still beat Byakko despite the huge DPS loss and we never saw Enrage. My static is also casual/mid-core, yet we still do Savage and Extremes because why not? It's fun and something to do.