Few close friends quit FFXIV, one wants to explain why, hopes SE improves the game

[Risvertasashi]

But yeah, the treadmill...they've found something that works and they're going to ride that wave -- any company would do the same if they faced the same circumstance.

Yoshi P actually talked about this a bit in his book. The gist of it was that while there are players that desire change and experimentation in systems like this... there's a huge number that take comfort in a steady, predictable pattern - and would quit if SE upended things too much there.