EC explains how the current progression system is flawed

[Pooky_Pasha]

snip

Both EQ and FFXI peaked in mid-2004 at about 550k each. After that, EQ fell off the map, losing 100k within a year and then losing another 250k in about 6 months. So within about 1.5 years, they lost 350k (or about 63% of their peak). FFXI, on the other hand, held steady until late-2008 (yep, Pre-Abyssea by about 2 years) when it started losing players. Both games have hemorrhaged as many players as the logistically can. Now, if either hemorrhage any more players, they're dead. In fact, FFXI is about to die regardless. It would be amazing if either game still had near 50k active subscribers now.

WoW, on the other hand, grew steadily (from release) for 6 years to its peak around October 2010 of about 12 million subscribers. Over the last 5 years, WoW has been in steady decline with the occasional expansion bump. It still, however, can boast 5.5+ million subscribers. The truth is, WoW has kept far more players engaged for far longer than EQ or FFXI. It was never close, and it still isn't close.

Here are some charts for comparison purposes. You could make a retention case for FFXI, but only if you looked at 2004-2009. With EQ, you could make it from 1999-2004. With WoW, you can see steady retention from the start, even with the steady decline after its peak until today.

Edit: I played FFXI from 2004-2009, and off-and-on since. I played WoW from 2009-FFXIV 1.0 release.