And, mind you, Duty Finder in XIV isn't just a raid thing: every single piece of instanced content uses it, even levelling dungeons, and that applies whether you're queueing solo, queueing with a partial party, or entering content with a fully premade party (even right-clicking on a dungeon entrance just opens up Duty Finder). XIV doesn't just respect the player's time: the entire design of the game is built around respecting the player's time at a fundamental level.
I just used to be a hard core gamer so I share the sentiment that some may feel which is that the glory days of WoW are long passed. What we have now is objectively “better” in every way, and yet, you can’t help but miss the past.
You have to have power inflation, for any of the common content models to work.
And you have to also provide a fast lane for new players, otherwise no one is going to join, only to be a decade behind where everyone else is now.
It's unfortunate because it screws existing players. But ultimately, that's only because they believe the myth that MMO stats / levels / gear actually have value.
All in all, they grew up with their player base and I don’t fault them for it in the slightest. Sure, minor gripes here and there but generally speaking, they have made the right calls.
There was a "golden age" of WoW where things were new, and hard. It was a perfect balance of difficulty and grind made bearable by the newness and marvel of it all. I liken it to finding a new programming project which you are stoked on. The effort/reward loop is finely tuned.
LFR was part of a bunch of changes, spanning years, that evolved WoW but moved further and further away from that initial magic.
The gripe many have/had is that LFG/LFR removes the community building element of having to find a group, or find a guild. You had to really work to get a group, and work even harder to get (and stay in) a guild. I remember when I first stepped into SSC. I had spent months working for that. To then work with that guild to clear SSC and move on to Hyjal was thoroughly amazing.
Yes, you can still "do" that (get a guild, hardcore raid) but there was something about knowing that other people hadn't even seen what you were seeing, that was thrilling.
I think some people also don't like that the same gear (or nearly the same) models are available to LFR groups. Back in the day, if you saw someone walking around with a full T3 set it was something magical. Nowadays, everyone kinda looks the same.
I remember that I first started feeling that way when LFR was introduced.