Sorry, this is a bit out of topic, but could you please share your sources for the amount of players over time? I'm interested.
The only "new" content would be the Lighthouse and Pre-CT Dungeon - The grand majority (Moogle, Extreme Mode, Hard Mode Dungeons, Crystal Tower) are delayed content, thus not "new" in the grand scheme of things. People who didn't play ARR yet won't know that it was delayed content unless they research.
The rest? Depending on the depth of the storyline and if you consider quests and tome farming as content, it may not be 'new' either since it's not an expansion pack and highly unlikely they're adding a ton of new areas to the game in 2.1. So no, it's not about the rewards, it's the fact the "new content" largely isn't new at all. They're distractions, sure.
But a million people unsubbed today!
See? I can make unsubstantiated claims, too. There is one data point for this game's subscription numbers -- 1.5 million, which Yoshi himself said is not reflective of active accounts, i.e., people are already quitting.
The point I was making, which you seem to have missed, is that if the devs make poor decisions the same thing can happen to this as happened to SWTOR. Which looked something like this:
http://i.imgur.com/iF5oyCQ.png
To me "content" means "things to do in game". It includes (but is not limited to) quests, mobs to battle, areas to explore.
- I don't consider the addition of tome rewards to already existing dungeons "content", but rather "adjustment". I don't consider the raising of ilvl on gear that was already ingame "content" either, but "adjustment", too.
- I consider new boss, new dungeon and new quests "content".
This patch does bring content (call it "new" or "delay" whatever).
It just doesn't bring endgame content (aparently).
Lets just cut to the crux of this argument, shall we? People are beginning to get bored at "end game." They are either farming tomestones, farming relics, farming coil, or a mixture of the three. All of which have become very tedious. The content coming in, while a brief distraction, does very little to expand on "things to do" at end game. People will continue doing those three things along with the addition of Crystal "ragequit" Tower. The goals of the player base have not changed and, as Yoshida has stated, will not change all the way through 2.3.
So how long will it be before boredom translates to slipping subscription numbers? 2 months? Maybe 3?
The current structure for end game has very little lasting replay value. It will eventually become an unbearable, monotonous grind to even the most hard-core players among us. Without some real meat in 2.2 or 2.3 to greatly expand on story, areas, and goals it does not bode well for the longevity of Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn. This is the sobering fact that every MMO has to face; either the game will evolve out of this rut of repetitious content or it will die.
Personally I'm enjoying the relative lack of grindiness compared to other MMOs. Not saying you guys saying this will cause subs to bleed arn't right, I just think it's refreshing that apparently the devs are more considerate of their players' freetime in this regard than their own wallets. I mean think about what you're actually asking for- they could, for example:
1. Make every single WP run give 5 myth
2. Make every dungeon give myth, but only give 20 myth the first time so you have to do every dungeon exactly once every week
These are just two ideas I came up with in a split second to make the game more grindy and tedious. I'm honestly of two minds of this whole "grindiness/lastability" issue with the game but I just think it's kind of a funny phenomenon that MMO players have gotten to the point where they're actually asking for more blatant time-wasting mechanics to get their fix. There's no hope for us, man.
I'm more questioning the 8 hours a month I'm paying 10$ for.
hey $10 for 8 hours aint bad, i can spend 10x that much for stuff that's 1/10th the length (though arguably 1000x more enjoyable and infinitely times more illegal)
in all seriousness though its a game guys, just cancel your sub and come back in 3 months, enjoy the 1 new dungeon they've added by then and then unsub again, who actually cares about SE's wallet other than SE