I don't speak for the whole FFXI community, but i cannot just sit here in silence anymore. It has become apparent that the FFXI devs have forgotten that WE pay THEM to play this game. Over the past few months i have seen nothing come from the devs that proves otherwise. They add content to the game that is incredibly difficult without a very specific setup (NNI) and then criticize us saying that not everyone should be able to clear all content in the game. Uhhh are you *&^%ing kidding me? If i am paying you my money, however small the amount may be, i sure as hell better be able to participate in / clear any event in the game with whatever setup i choose, and the only thing that should hold me back is that event being a little more difficult if i choose a less than optimal setup.
Or they add slightly challenging content that is pretty easy to clear if the participants have the temps (VW) but have abyssmal drop rates and no way to share loot you don't want / need.
Or they add content that is easy and accessible (Neo-Salvage) but then decide that one small niche of a job is too OP for it and decide to nerf it. Meanwhile their precious Sam weapon remains unchanged. Nevermind that you need loot from the old salvage to get the better loot from new salvage, which BTW means if you missed out when TOAU came out, you now need to do 75 content before you can do 99 content because of arbitrary entry limitations. Oh and BTW, good luck getting the drops you need in old school salvage.
Which takes me to my next two points;
SE refuses to adjust the 3 man limit on ToAU content which would make getting stuff done that NO ONE wants to do anymore (assaults) or is hard to find people for (salvage, einherjar) I know this is an MMO but when content can be cleared by one person, make so can enter with ONLY 1 PERSON.
Limbus 2 would be good but again, good luck finding people to do it. Enif has some nice pieces, Murzim is mostly trash, and the lack of AF+2 leaves almost no incentive to do this event.
Whats that? oh AF+2, yeah it might make people do this event but SE has flat out said NO to the notion of adding such a thing. Again SE, WE PAY YOU to play this game. Obviously adding ideas any Tom, Dick, or Harry throw at you would be bad, but if the majority of the games population want it, MAKE IT SO.
You know what you gain by actually listening to your players? MORE MONEY! That's right, if you actually threw us a bone on things more people would continue to play this game, instead of drop from existence because you don't want to listen to the people that play this game, unlike yourselves, even though you claim to play it.
People put some damn good ideas on this forum and they are either completely ignored, or we get a lame ass "we are looking / will look into it" but then never hear another thing about it.
This has turned into a rant so I'll wrap this up. SE is trolling us. They want our money but don't want our feedback. Yet we continue to play this game in the hopes that something awesome will happen. SoA brought some hope, but i have major doubts. I mean look at WoTG, how long did it take to finish that expansion? And what is there to show for it?
Enough is enough. I am only one person, but if all of the NA/EU community stopped playing FFXI for even a month i wonder how SE would react.