Is this the road they will continue to take with items?

[Fendred]

Except you forgot to mention that 90% of the fanbase left the game once abby was introduced, SE was forced to merge servers to cut costs, and released an expansion in a desperate attempt to get them back. Also, if you unsub, you can't post on the game's forums, which is why there was no complaints.

I think we can safely say that was the point at which the development department up at SE had lost sight of what FFXI's fanbase saw in their game. There were some seriously annoying/broken things in FFXI, but game balance be damned, the fans loved it regardless.