It's a valid concern, maybe the intensity is off, though. Not everyone is going to enjoy the same things. Frankly, I DID enjoy grinding mobs FFXI style. Not all the time, true, but most of the time. And most of the quest driven MMOs I have played haven't managed to hold my attention for longer than a few months. So when I see Yoshi talking about how killing mobs is not going to be the most ideal way to exp and that there will be a bigger focus on completing quests it does make me worry a bit.

The truth is having to repeat anything for effective gain ALWAYS has a deteriorative effect on the enjoyment of an activity. Whether it's killing the same mobs over and over, doing the same quests over and over, running the same instance over and over. The more you do it, the less you invest mentally to the task.

For quite awhile I absolutely hated guildleves. Could not stand them, to the point that I'd rather not play the game if the only way to gain progress was through leves. Even now I could really care less if they all suddenly disappeared. And sometimes I like to go out and grind a specific mob for a material I might need. All the better if I can also make appreciable gains on one of my lower classes at the same time.

The biggest problem with the information we get, is that it is filtered through various sources. The interviewer interprets the information from yoshida (hopefully as accurately as possible) then it needs to be translated from Japanese into English I'm sure we lose a lot of nuance and context by the time the information is represented in a form we can understand.

It doesn't make the fear completely unjustified though. and Frankly, the laissez faire attitude many people have is not going to make anything better. Because by the time it is in a form that you can experience and judge for yourself it is far beyond the point of no return for certain things.

If you have faith in the current dev team that's great. But personally when I read something that gives me doubt or causes me to worry, I'd rather speak up about it and at the very least get some clarification on the matter, than sit on my laurels and hope that it won't be as bad as it potentially could be.

Also, I had to laugh at whoever said repeating quests promoted exploration more than mob grinding. It might promote movement more than mob grinding, but it doesn't promote going off on your own and seeing what is in every nook and cranny of a map. Weak argument is weak.

I know I cringe when I see another Rokien tabloid style sensationalist thread... but that has more to do with how he portrays himself and his ideas... because often times his fears are my own, he just shares them in a way that makes you kinda want to punch him.