They're trying to kill the game. That is the only possible explanation for the decisions made in regard to XI of late. If they can drive the playerbase away then they can say "We had to shut it down, it didn't have enough subscribers to keep it going" and save face instead of having to admit they bungled both their MMOs repeatedly.
I'm starting to wonder if we're all masochists of the highest degree for sticking around. I'm not sure i'm going to for much longer. The people I play this game with are all increasingly apathetic towards it, and this update has been kind of insulting.