Originally Posted by
Avoidy
This approach was forced to change and evolve when online communication stopped being novel. I do remember that era of MMOs, where guildmates would log in just to talk to each other, but now people sign into discord for that. Hell, the MMO genre in general has aged considerably and most of its enjoyers have jobs now, which partially explains the shift from heavy grindset to more casualized system where you can even pay to skip certain inconveniences.
For the people left behind, I don't think it's a healthy approach for the game as a whole. After all, even utilizing your own perspective... if other players are the content, but those other players are quitting because they have nothing to do and don't want to spend 15 a month on nothing, then your content evaporates as well.