Quote Originally Posted by Elexia View Post

It's what sells in this day and age of MMORPGs.

So while they tried to switch it up, it's why I liked what they started doing with bosses in XI in it's later life despite limitations of the engine. While you tank and spank, they make it so you can't just do it straight up by changing the battle flow throughout, i.e you have some bosses that throw up a magic shield which gives it a silence/paralyze aura which causes you to shift your tactic which is something they did heavily in FFXIV with some bosses:

So even if it's "stale mechanics" when you really analyze it, it's more about if the fight itself is interesting especially in regards to storyline fights.
I'd agree with you on these points. Many are tired of those of us who played FFXI trying to add elements from that game into this one, but really it's not such a bad thing to do. FFXI didn't get it right all of the time, but one thing I can say is that it had variation going for it. Many boss fights took the usual mechanic and then often put a twist on it such that you couldn't defeat it like you did another battle.

As you said, this made progressing through the story so much more interesting; figuring out how to get past these fights. As far FFXIV has shown me, they're choosing the leave a great deal of that out in favor of more simplistic battles but also they haven't forgotten them altogether as Garuda, Nael, etc. show. Overall I get the impression they're unsure of how to go about actually implementing ideas in this game such that everyone is happy and their pockets are lined.

Do we make a watered down shell of game or do we actually pump it up and make this fun yet darn right hard in some spots?

This is up to how SE designs the game and how players play the game because this is why people don't like seeing ARR coming to a 'spamfest' because that's the type of encounters that end up being introduced or the typical "must kill minions before main guy is killable" you see in many MMOs of today.
And as said, if this happens people will complain it's too hard or "not player friendly" and we're back to square one.
I just don't understand what the players really want. Me? I want a game that I can play and reasonably accomplish my goals after having gone through some trials and tribulations. Don't want things handed to me or being made incredibly easy to accomplish.I feel nothing from playing a game like that. It reminds me of the old mario games where running in a straight line was just about all there was to it. Even as a kid I beat those with such ease that I never felt like I did something at the end.

Not saying certain things can't be easy, but endgame of 1.0 was a joke; a colossal joke. If ARR is going to be so breezy, I don't see the point.

I get the impression most of us want some challenge to it. So where is all of this casualization and rebelling against difficulty coming from? Are people that upset when they can't have the best of the best? Or is that what's actually selling....?

If it is, I think consumers are shortchanging themselves for a false sense of satisfaction. As far as the thread topic goes, it's kind of like a dissolution of the noble class. If everything is piss easy and everyone is equal, no elites can exist. Though, I laugh at all of OP's suggestion and can't imagine people actually want that.