The Current Status of FFXIV Patch 3.1 and How to Address it Moving Forward

[Alahra]

At the same time, it's not giving me "more" content to do (which is problematic given the circumstance and timing of the game, esp if it's been delayed for so long and the content and lack of polish doesn't show it). If that's how they're going to handle future updates, I'm probably not going to stick around past 3.2 because not only am I expecting content that's been given a new coat of paint, but content that hasn't been painted over at all.

Honestly (and I promise I don't mean this dismissively), that would probably be best for you. This is, like WoW, a game that's constantly offering the same basic content models, retooled to be relevant for new raid tiers. That model isn't likely to change anytime soon, as it's the most stable structure for securing regular subscriptions in a market that's largely gone F2P.

We'll probably get one or two major new types of content each expansion (Maps and Hunts, for ARR, and so far, Exploratory Missions for HW), and that's likely going to be it. They won't be reinventing the wheel at all, I don't think, since the game still has a fairly dedicated subscriber base (which does seem to be growing, at least for now, although not at any rate like WoW's original meteoric rise). Massive shakeups to content structure are one of the biggest ways to cause player bleed (the other big one being an overall lack of content, which WoW's been dealing with for the last few years)--and this is something that SE probably knows all too well from how badly they mangled FFXI's final expansion launch back in 2013. Given that there was crossover between the two teams back then (I'm not sure how much there is now), they are likely pretty wary of doing anything drastic so long as the model they have is keeping people subscribed.

Looking to the weapon questline in particular for new content is only going to breed disappointment, as it's never given new content outside of the very first step, which they've said time and time again they don't intend to replicate.

And yes, the team and its resources are rather limited. That we get regular major patches every three months or so (with the exception of the recent delay of 3.1) is pretty amazing to me. I love the game enough that it's enough to satisfy me--most especially because the Zodiac/Anima questlines are the way they are. They are absolutely my favorite part of the game and while I think they can improve on the structure, I am largely happy with them the way they are. But if you're a player that wants more steady new content, this probably isn't going to be the game for you.