Endgame should be challenging - that's the point (from a casual player)

[angelar_]

The problem is that no content in this game is challenging.

Your definition of challenging is disingenuous.

It's funny that you mention the absurd difficulty spike in Elden Ring's end game. A huge amount of people couldn't solo Malenia after managing through the rest of the game. So comparing it to getting a group of 8 people 'high-end duties' on XIV and acting like it's different is pretty incoherent with everything else you're trying to say. If the point is just to say "you're REQUIRED to do that," then it's a meaningless distinction because it was so unfair on a level the vast majority of the rest of the game isn't that you effectively have to do so anyway.

"No content in this game is challenging. Only 3% of players are legitimately able to do the hardest content." Whatever.