Going to chip in before we're all doom and gloom and dead with the current game direction.
Problem/Opinion: It appears that the developers fail to understand what their customers really desire and just go ahead and try to make the game fresh again without even consider the aftermath. I understand that the game has been stagnating ever since reaching lv95-99. Matsui knows the problem and he wants to refresh/reset the game. However, what he failed to see is that people are responsive to options and hate being forced to do something.
Reason: People hate being forced to do things. You can't tell people "18 people alliance will be the end game, do it!". That's not going to work. You need to give your customers options. The more options the better. By definitions, having options means all choices are roughly equal in terms of reward vs time and effort spend by a single player. If you have bad and good options then the only actual choice is the good option and no body will pick the bad one.
Solution: Make contents for EVERYONE. Alliance, large linkshell, small linkshell, group of friends or 1-2 buddies, the guy who only plays solo or that gal over there who only log in to chat with her friends or that power player with 10 characters running around doing everything. Obviously that's impossible as people play their game at different pace. So make a few content with similar rewards and different approaches. Also, you need to keep the similar amount of reward vs effort with these approaches.
Don't make too many 'ladders'. Don't make too many contents with "you must do this content before you can do that content". You will keep getting players being left behind and give up on the game. If you have to make them then you must ensure that everyone can climb those 'ladders'. I repeat EVERYONE. If you see a large gap between top players and the bottom ones then close it quickly by speeding up those who left behind. Don't sit around and wait cause those at the bottom will just quit and the game is lost.