Totally agree and it's been like this for a loong time. The game is in desperate need of some midcore content. The last time there was something that fit the bill was when Ultima was the unreal - it was possible to jump in with a group of any casual players and get a clear before the evening was out. It was awesome! Everyone came away wanting to do it again the next week. That's exactly what midcore is. Something a bit challenging for 4-8 players that you can clear in one evening. Extremes take 3 times as long to clear and don't fit the bill.

The other important thing is making it accessible so you don't need to sit in party finder for hours trying to find learning groups. Criterion was such a huge mis-step in that respect. It could have been some sort of midcore dungeon content for 4 people that was quick to dive in to - instead we got yet more savage content. If they halved the mechanics on each boss in criterion it might be okay. Chaotic and Baldesion offer nothing for casual players either because it takes so much co-ordination to find a big enough group to get in. All in all I'm pretty tired of SE just catering to raiders with battle content and doing the bare minimum for everyone else. They're completely out of touch.