Quote Originally Posted by Songi View Post
Hopefully the subscription decline means they'll start putting more focus on creating more challenging content across the board that cannot simply be completed by faceroll. The main reason why so few have completed Final Coil is not because of lack of interest. The lack of challenging dungeons and the lolworthy Crystal Tower raids gives players a false sense of security thinking this game will be one giant derpfest.
Did you completely miss one of the main points of the consensus? People don't WANT challenging content. The incredibly vast majority doesn't do Coil. There's various reasons but it being "too hard" is frequently one of them as it cannot be facerolled with 7 other random people with 0 organisation (some turns can be but T5, T9 and T12/T13 are major road blocks for the non-hardcore).

Quote Originally Posted by Vaer View Post
A lot of people make other characters since you can have up to 8 per server if you pay for standard. I have two alts that are 50 that I haven't bothered to get through the MSQ since I haven't been actively gearing them at all really.

Active players dwindling is pretty normal when it comes to pre-expansion lulls in these types of games especially since there is barely anything to do if you have been keeping up with the content. I myself have been playing other games and others I know have done the same while waiting for the expansion. It's one of the worst times to play if you are a progression player. If there is a looming gear reset, (especially since they also nerf things in this game pretty often) then people have less of a reason to play if they value their time. Some people take time off so they are refreshed and not burned out doing old content when the new content releases.
A lot of players dwindling before expansion sure, however my concern wasn't solely about that other than it is according to the consensus more prominent on EU servers but that the fact that out of all players, 801k has finished the old 2.0 story (Ultima Weapon) but only 300k has finished 2.5. SE has repeatedly pointed out that 2.5 story is needed to be cleared to go to Ishgard and so far everything they've shown is in Ishgard and beyond.
This isn't an issue for ME but it sets a dangerous mood for how well the expansion will be received and how many will stay beyond their free/resubbed 1 month time if they are stuck playing catch up for a long time before they actually get to experience the expansion. If you can't see that, you are blissfully ignorant and that's your choice. I rather hope it means SE sees it too and have big changes in store for new and returning players so they don't give up because they can't play the content they paid for.