Originally Posted by
Seriha
The main problem is many don't want to acknowledge that things should be better here and that such a realization would cheapen prior investment. "It's just a few cups of coffee!" we're told, as if everyone should be happy sacrificing that or whatever betters their day-to-day life. This shouldn't be confused with me saying SE shouldn't be getting money for the game, but that they should be more realistic about its expectations from players if their own reinvestment is going to be so comically bare bones. Customer appreciation is a commodity, too.
More relative to the OP, the mere suggestion that anything is 3 years out reeks of desperation to milk yet more subs from people. That's an eternity in gaming years. Can you say, with genuine sincerity, that current XI endgame would satisfy the majority of current players for that span? I can't, as not everyone wants to build multiple RMEAs or grind umpteen jobs to Master. No, the game needs new stories, new zones (not a 4th Dynamis iteration), new mobs to fell, dare I even say a new job or two along with further revamps/additions.
The mobile version is pretty much phantom status, with the last bit of info I've heard is that the relationship between SE and Nexon has been difficult. I never really expected that to be another system we could play our same characters on, anyway, so whatever on that. A 3 year timeline may infer a sort of Remaster, as it's obvious the game needs some overhauling to shed it's absent PS2 master, but this just goes back to calling into question if that's soon enough, let alone worth it for SE if we're really going to play the business sense card. Nonetheless, the concern the game may one day "die" is a valid one, and I see that death more as a result of poor player behaviors than SE finally pulling the plug on the servers. Which is to say you can't expect everyone to be running multiple accounts or have those earlier mentioned multiple masteries/weapons and other perfect gear. The future of the game isn't in pandering to the dwindling number of addicts. It's in winning back those who felt they had nothing to do, couldn't do things (because they weren't the right jobs, on the right server, whatever), possibly never played before "because it's an MMO", and further incentivizing that against the cost of competition (which happens to be cheaper, free, prettier, and kinder in progression in a lot of cases).