Seriously devs - the balance

[SpankWustler]

general ignorance on S-E's part on how to bring certain jobs up to par

I think this is something that people are aggravated by across the board, and I'm not sure how it's related to player mentality since developer responses to player feedback are often dubious. To their credit, they did handle the recent AI changes for puppets like really awesome people doing a really awesome thing.

As for the rest, people are individuals and I think you're connecting dots that just don't connect. I'm sure it's cathartic somehow to blame every issue within FFXI on the far-reaching tentacles of one conglomerated group, but that group doesn't really exist.

In reality, just a handful of people feel setting up a bot and a few doodads properly should still be the pinnacle of the FFXI experience. I'd guess most folks who are old-hands at end-game stuff are in the "My imaginary person sat in a vomit-green room for three hours while I cleaned my house and learned guitar because, hey, what else was there to do in 2005?" club and are more than happy that things lean more towards active content now.

The FFXI community isn't the two-party system that far too many people perceive. There are people who want content to be less random but take more time and effort. There are people who want to try their luck with stuff that pops whenever it wants and drops whatever nobody wants. There are people who want more straight-up casual-friendly stuff. There are people who make topics complaining about Dark Knight's something or Summoner spirits forever and ever.