In addition to the comments about gear requirements and challenge, there's something else to consider. Namely, whether the design of the events and world appeal to you.

Personally, I like the tiered progression concept. I can see it would be frustrating if you haven't obtained an RME or +2 gear or beyond, though. People want to blame Abyssea for underperformance in SoA, but don't forget that the masses weren't running around in full Empyrean+2 within a month of Scars release. Abyssea became easy when people obtained gear, empys, atma, atmacites, and later levels and brews. I honestly don't see SoA turning out that different with the power of the Delve weapons alone.

The difference to me is that what you do in SoA is just not that interesting. Reives are fast-paced but I was bored with them within a week. There's only so long I can beat on butterflies, grasshoppers and bunnies, let alone inanimate trees and rocks. Compare that to Campaign that at least has beastmen, and Besieged that has some badass looking mobs.

Then there's the zone design. Ceizak winds you around flat copies of the same 20 yalms of jungle. These new areas are quite honestly the least interesting in the entire game. When I roam around I think of how even Yuhtunga Jungle has multiple levels, a maze of holes, and a drop to a waterfall valley that looked pretty cool in its time. People want to excuse this based on the fact that it's uncolonized land, but that doesn't change the bottom line drabness of it. On the plus side, I do like the look of Adoulin itself, but that's not really where I'm spending active time.

I'm also not a fan of 18-man requirements. I stopped a month into Voidwatch to play other games because FFXI had half my gaming time filled with building a party or waiting on one. I can't stand that. The big stuff in SoA is like that and it turned me off immediately. On the plus side, the last note from the producer regarding SoA content was that they'd be looking into more activities for solo players and low-man groups.

tl;dr - when assessing the value, take the challenge and content level comments along with the fun factor of the activities themselves. For me they're a big thumbs down at the moment. I'm keeping an eye out for that low-man stuff though. Also, Artifact quests will be implemented with the next update. I've wanted GEO for years, so that has me active for now.