The general player base needs to improve

[ThirdChild_ZKI]

And how do you plan on solving the "lack of desire for self-improvement", that's a pretty complicated thing to do. What else can you do other than making stuff harder? SE already did that with HW and Gordias, and it literally set the worst FFXIV precedent after the 1.0 fiasco. Why do you think they've made SB significantly easier, and why do you think a lot more people are playing now than they did in HW? Hell, you are literally asking them to do what made them lose more subs in the first place?
They've put share markers, they've made an eye of the size of an elephant appear when you have to look away from the target, they are certainly doing things to encourage people follow mechanics and make the game less confusing, but ultimately it's up to people.
Again, I don't see as much of a problem as you obviously do here.

There's the point of the topic: SE tried to raise the bar a bit in Heavensward and players couldn't handle it. Now, in Stormblood, they've sought to make things easier, and people STILL can't seem to handle things. . . Something's got to give.

I said it in a different thread before, that we're level 70, but still barely handling what can effectively be considered level 50 challenges. Hashmal is nothing more than Ifrit dashes, instant kill line AoEs with the obvious "IT'S GOING TO FALL THIS WAY" visual, and the usual AoE on player rondo. It's nothing new at all; just mechanics we've seen before with a different coat of paint, and maybe heavier penalties for failing them. And yet people seem like they just can't handle it. . . They can't handle it because outside of leveling and Savage content, all other endgame content remains faceroll easy, either for convenience, or because SE literally thinks people can't handle more than that. And it would seem that players have validated that.

And you see no problem there?

As for self-improvement, some people just won't. We understand that. Some don't care; we understand that. But when the game itself doesn't spark the desire to even try, but instead chooses to keep the bar low AND continually lower it, most players would be inclined to either not feel it's necessary, or question if it's even worth improving. That is not a good precedent for a game to have for the sake of longevity.

[Gallus]

And you see no problem there?

Not gonna judge whether it's right or wrong, but if that's what the majority of the playerbase feels comfortable with, I'm afraid we all have no choice but to adapt to it. Personally, I do agree there's a certain degree of lazyness among the FFXIV community when it comes to handling relatively complex mechanics, but I too think it has nothing to do with SE and more with the community wanting something specific from this game. Players spend 10 times more gil in glamour than they do in anything else. That should give you a hint.

[ThirdChild_ZKI]

but if that's what the majority of the playerbase feels comfortable with, I'm afraid we all have no choice but to adapt to it.

We definitely do not have to adapt to it. And yet we do.

We don't have to adapt to simply having the bar set low and it being lowered because people will continue to be too lazy to meet already watered down challenges.
We DO have to adapt by improving. Players improve by being challenged, or through a self-motivated desire to be better, but if there's no reason or incentive to be better, both SE and players can neither gauge their improvement, nor offer proportional challenge/effort in the future.