In the end, this is not about a game being good or bad - it's about your very personal mindset.

To me, FF14 is not a live or death thing. It's a pastime I see as my home away from home experience to get away from all the real world trouble - for a time at least. I do not want it to be challenging, or hard... I dont' have to proove anything... I don't care about 2 minute buff windows, job homogenization, formulaic raids, and all the other stuff everybody here is in arms about. I log in, dabble around a bit, and am happy.

And as long as FF14 is scratching that itch of mine, I will continue to play it. And when it does no longer, I will leave - like I left WoW years ago, after it turned into a glorified lobby for e-sports nonsense, now with additional light speed mount gimmickry.