Apart from giving yet another forum for players to vent, the level of actual staff interaction is minimal and the only stuff staff post about is stuff that the devs are working on OR stuff that's posted anyway on the playonline website/twitter. Nothing against the staff of this website I know they are limited by SE but this could be so much more than it is, I know a lot of garbage gets posted here but there are some well thought out genuine posts too.
Any other questions are ignored, even if mass numbers of players all would like the same things answered. Would it kill Square devs to communicate with us and tell us important things like what they have planned for the future of FFXI (like if we will EVER get any more full expansions or what mini exps are planned, answers on important game questions etc) Is this top secret stuff, i don't get it. There are things people would like to have some communication about aside from what they are currently working on, these posts on the forum are nothing better than what we used to get with update teasers on playonline >_>
The really sad thing is, we got more genuine questions answered from Square in their "ignore the playerbase, we know best" years from fansite/vanafest Q&A's than right now when they launch all these new things.
Spending money on forums and twitters and extra staff for no measurable difference seems utterly pointless >_> Check out other game forums and see the level of interaction they get, bioware and blizzard etc