What does Heavensward actually bring to the table as an expansion?

[Daralii]

Definitely not new player friendly, especially later on when the content kept piling on and leaving new blood in the dust. It became a game where it was more attractive to the hardcore than new players.

You're right that people are more rebellious nowadays, untrusting towards their fellow player and why systems like the duty finder are required. Because of their change in policy, they are actually making more of a profit now than XI ever did.

Look at 1.0. That was done with the spirit of XI in mind and look how difficult it was for casual/midcore players. So much so that 1.0 flopped HARD.

1.0 had plenty of issues aside from that, but you're right. The structure was designed to really just be appealing to the people that played XI and other older MMOs, but I imagine most of the people that wanted a game like XI were still just playing XI.