Garland, the statement was made that "There's little to no skill in XI, so stand out with your equipment." You didn't specify anything about the differences between end-game and exp, you gave a generalised view on the whole game -- in which we do not agree with.

And yes, exp is mindless grinding (like with any MMO), but you can get into things along the way that don't require you to be level 75, and you still need a fair bit of skill with. Promys for instance, are at level 30, and a lot of people can't seem to get past them because they just lack the skill.