Yeah, it's disappointing to me as well - and it doesn't fill me with confidence that 6.0 will wrap up the existing plot threads in a satisfying manner. I thought that the writing in the Save the Queen storyline was some of the strongest in the game to date, with plenty of nuance and a very likable cast of characters on both sides of the conflict. I would've liked to see Matsuno do further work on FFXIV, even if it were limited to side content.

We'll see what 6.1+ brings, I suppose. Hopefully it has some depth and reasonably high stakes to it. Though if it doesn't, at least there's a few upcoming MMO's on the horizon that appeal to me in the form of Blue Protocol, Ashes of Creation and Pantheon. I'm hoping at least one of them does very well for itself and moves forward taking itself seriously where its story is concerned. Both for the sake of providing FFXIV with some healthy competition and also for the sake of providing people with an option that isn't WoW or FFXIV.

I'm willing to give the development team a chance to see what they have in store, though if the story is going to build things up only to discard them abruptly - as has been the case for a while now - then all I'll say on the matter is that it's the same approach that led me to giving up on WoW after years of investment. If need be, I'll do the same with FFXIV.

I've had a lot of people messaging me in-game expressing similar concerns, though for now my best advice has been to wait and see how 6.0 chooses to conduct itself. Which means we have to play the waiting game until late November, unfortunately!