1.0 is a somewhat different case compared to other games' failures. It was objectively a mess. No amount of plausible subs for the game it was would have changed that. Those of us who did stick with the game often didn't play it too much and ALWAYS rightfully complained. I mean it was complete garbage just from a playability stance, even if the rest of it had potential. Persevering through the shit you're given is an old school MMO mentality that, while that perspective was on a massive decline, was still notably present.
Yoshi-P took over not too long after, which if I recall correctly, the ability to finally play "properly" was finally achieved following. No longer did we have to sit through massive UI lag with literally everything we did. It was still a mess, but it was a playable mess. It had content to satisfy us shit dredgers. It's important to not pretend that it's not like they didn't create content for the game. Anyone could see though that it was not going to last much longer. Which is when they started the community discussions between Yoshi-P and the devs with players. It was little things being done that sparked hope that kept us there, which is then when the 2.0 rumors and announcements came.
