The Reality of our "Content"

I agree with the original post. I recently decided to go out of my way NOT to fall into the left category with a new character. My old friends and guild mates are quite competitive and power leveling has been favored over enjoying lower level content in the game. I got bored and frustrated with following the "super-leveling" path mostly because I hate dealing with KSers/hackers and grinding at the same few maps over and over feels like a chore... but my friends pressured me to stick to what's fastest and suck it up.

Now I'm playing solo and loving it so far. I'm taking my time so I can experience content at an appropriate level; while it's still fun and there is some element of challenge. The problem that concerns me now is that even following the right-side of your chart with a few PQs in between, leveling still feels too fast. Many people will disagree with that but I find it difficult to "bond" with my character when I fly through the levels. The journey of my character is what makes game play meaningful for me. After spending a few weeks to get to 200 it feels like game over to me. Those 200s become mules for CWKPQ and then I'm onto a new character. If it took longer to get there I don't think it would be so easy to start over. I understand why faster leveling and advancement is appealing to casual players & people that play for damage though...

I do feel like I am being left behind by choosing a slower path. That said, I would be missing out on a whole lot more if I continued to play in a way that isn't fun for me. It would be nice if the game could be "balanced" so that everyone can get what they want out of it. At the end of the day it seems like it's up to individual players to decide how their gaming experience is going to be.