Quote Originally Posted by Absurdity View Post
Why shouldn't it? Every other mainline Final Fantasy game was designed to kill you. It constantly presented you with challenges to overcome if you wanted to experience more of the story.


I remember regularly getting my ass handed to me when I first played FFX until I sat down and properly learned to use it's systems like the Sphere Grid, different elements and status effects.
If you make it too difficult you're going to alienate and fail to draw in people who primarily (or only) care about the story. An MMO is different from single player games, in the sense that MMOs require other people to also be good at the game. If other people aren't good (and let's be honest, encountering somebody who's not paying attention or just not good at their job in game is inevitable) you're going to have a hard time clearing content. You have to depend on other people, rather than your own skill (or luck, or patience grinding).

MMOs are different beasts. Even XI, which was / is an old-school MMO with the more grind-heavy mindset that was common of it's time, requires other people to "git gud" for you to have fun. There's a reason that game design went the way of the dodo.