Quote Originally Posted by Neomarl View Post
Depends on your definition of hardcore.
Someone who plays all day, every day?
Someone who takes every advantage of the game including shortcuts to get to endgame asap?
Someone who has all jobs to 50?
Or maybe someone who wants more hardcore features such as deleveling?

Leveling in FFXIV is empty and shallow. You can do it all solo, unlike the forced parties that you had to join/make in FFXI. I'd skip the boring part so I can get to the good part; endgame.
Coming from someone who Powerlevels, this is meaningless. I know plenty of people, myself included who enjoyed the journey and I am helping quite a few people on their own journey and they are enjoying it.
And there is where you draw the line between FFXIV and FFXI. In XIV you have options, in XI you don't. I like it how it is, the devs like it how it is, most people like it how it is. Open to your own playstyle.
Who's to say that the end game is the bad part? I've become intensely bored with end game to the point that I only really do it if someone needs an extra person. It's all point of view and also, you're not arguing for your point here. Why would you add deleveling if leveling is shallow in the first place?

Also, to your earlier insinuation that I don't play as much as you do, you really should do some fact checking.