Final Fantasy XIV - End-Game grinding

I don't believe it but I'm actually playing the end-game game in Final Fantasy XIV.  All other MMORPGs I've played where I reached end-game I kind of stopped playing.  For example in WoW when I hit 70 in the Burning Crusade expansion I kind of just stopped.  I think I grinded out enough reputation and gold to be the first in my guild to get a dragon mount but I never did anything else of note (i.e. I did not go dungeon raiding).  Mostly because the raids and dungeons took so much time (at least 2 hours for a single dungeon and days for raids).  End-game WoW was geared towards hardcore raiders back then compared to now.

Similarly when I hit end-game in SWTOR I kind of just stopped too.  My friend and I attempted some of the end-game flashpoints with our NPC companions but some were too difficult to do and I didn't bother with any other end-game content even after the group finder was implemented.  I did pick up the expansion and finished the expansion stories but again I did not attempt any of the end-game flashpoints, operations or daily grind missions.  I think I might have tried grinding out some tokens for entry level raid gear but not enough to be too proud of anything.

However, in FF14 I've discovered that the end-game activities do not seem as much of a grind as the others.

It's still a grind, but doesn't seem like a grind if that makes sense.  I guess it's because most of the dungeons only take 30-40 minutes and the mechanics are enjoyable and the dungeons aren't just an endless sea of trash mobs.  The gear grind also isn't so bad as you don't have to do weeks worth of dailies to see some progress (I am able to get item level 100 accessories after only 4 daily roulettes).  Also most of the hard mode and extreme mode trials (basically boss battles which can be completed in about 10-15 minutes) drop high level loot.  The only downside of these trials is that if you get too many people who don't know what they are doing it can take a while.

Currently I'm trying to beat Leviathan Extreme mode in the hopes that the Wave Axe drops (it looks pretty cool) and in between attempts I'm farming FATES to try and get the necessary Atma crystals to upgrade my Bravura Zenith to Bravura Atma.  I've been making a lot of money on the market board (partly thanks to my calculus students) so I've been buying armor pieces instead of dungeoneering or grinding for tomestones like most people.

I got tired of seeing so many other people wearing the Foestriker Tabard so decided to give Mialee a new look.  I spent a considerable amount of time comparing different chest pieces and finally settled on the following.

The chest piece is a suit of Iron Scale Mail.  I totally overlooked it when originally looking for a chest piece.  What made this one work was that the non-armoured areas are black (and not brown) so it matches the boots really well (unlike what I had found in my previous post).  The axe got an upgrade as well and the reason I did not glamour the Bravura Zenith to look like Ifrit's Axe is that the Bravura Zenith has a much cooler glow than Ifrit's axe.  If I ever get enough money to get the Inferno Battleaxe though....

For those curious, her current equipment list can be found here.  As of this post, average item level is 83!