Ok, maybe I'm wrong but FFXI still has a massive area for expansion. I don't know why the development team hasn't thought of these ideas or why they think this game is close to coming to an 'end' for what can be done with it to draw in players.
First off, the Mithra homeland! This land would tie in several story lines and add an entirely new content! This would pertain to CoP, ZM, and several other minor story lines in the game.
Far East, there has always been talk of the 'Far East' in all sorts of story line and has been characters from the 'Far East' that interact and help players. This could easily be a great addition to the FFXI game and new content, missions, and even add to the CoP type story line.
A time before the crystal wars where nations battled each other! This would open up the game to an entirely new style of game play. This would give nation vs nation battle content and increase the PvP type of fighting for those that enjoy that type of stuff. This would predate the crystal war's WotG expiation and allow players to see what the 'world' was like and experience the history of the game that has always been hinted at but never had first hand experience of.
Next would be about the Galka! Who in FFXI has never wondered HOW the Galka lost their homeland and the history behind how they came to be part of Bastok? I for one think this could be a great addition that goes hand in hand with the history before crystal wars. This would allow people to see how the Galka race came to live in Bastok and how they lost their homeland.
Added content to show why the Mithra race and Tarutaru races came to live in the same area when they have always hinted that the Mithra have their own homeland. Give an idea of how Kazham became an 'outpost' type of location for the Mithra's and maybe use Kazham as a location that allows players to go to the Mithra homeland.
Norg! This long forgotten location has a Galka that stands by a doorway and I have always wondered if we were going to get pirate islands in the future! This would be a great time to add islands you can go to and learn about the ways of a pirate (and add in a new job of Pirate! Similar to the thief class but not the same! Many ways to add in this job and make it different). Could have content that gives players new missions, story line, and quest that tie in again, different aspects of the game that have already been hinted at.
What about the future? We have the past! What happens to the countries we love as time has passed? Do they just 'keep going as is' do some form alliances and become one country? Does the SoA area get another town? Does SoA have new area's that aren't in eastern but western side of the land?
What happened to the first continent that they showed in the SoA story line that had that 'world tree killed'? What about adding that and a story line / content that would help to 'bring back' the world tree there and allow adventures to 'build up' the towns by completing task over time and have an ever changing game?
There is NO REASON for this game to stop having content added. These are just ideas off the top of my head, I could come up with hundreds more but I believe these would be easy ones to add (maybe not the last one for the easy part) and would allow the FFXI players the love and enjoyment of the game we have played for years. Would give newer players things to do and older ones more time to enjoy the game and even new content to keep them busy!