Fixed for you. XI's problems run deeper than most seem to realize.
This is true. F2P wouldn't help much with the game in its current state. People would get on, blow it off as a shitty game and move on.If people aren't sticking around even with a free month trial, what makes you think F2P would solve the issue? No, it wouldn't, not by a long shot.
The fact the developers seem to still design stuff for large groups doesn't help (which is self-defeating when the playerbase population seems to be smaller).