I should also mention the 24 man raids and majority of the trials in the game are pretty easy affairs.
Despite being called and alliance "raid", CT is notorious for being brain dead easy. Bosses fall within seconds, and mechanics are less involved than many solo duties.
The only difficult parts of the game are extreme trials, savage raids, and ultimate raids. All of these are fully optional variants of other content (the majority of that content also being optional).
Actually, the post ARR Crystal Tower Alliance Raids are the only mandatory 24 man raids in the entire game.
None of the (12 and counting) other 24 man raids are mandatory. None of the normal raids at all are mandatory (of which there are 60 and counting, double that for savage versions).
Every now and then there is an 8 man trial that must be done (3 per expansion and one between expansions). But I imagine these will be made siliable before long as well (as we got our first solo trial last expansion) as soon as they are done with all the dungeons.
It not just about throwing npcs in there. It's about making them respond to the increasingly intricate mechanics ff14 bosses have that make them interesting and not just damage sponges.
