SE, no effort anywhere lately.

[Jojoya]

T;DR - I think they just need to reconsider their development philosophy - For whom are they developing the content, and to what end? - There's a bit of a paradigm shift, in that they're shifting too far away from any form of time sinks, which to a degree is a bad thing if they stray too far from it. Equally, I do think they need a larger team. Again, newer content shouldn't necessarily come at the expense of expanding on older content.

That is something that players also need to consider. It could some of the unhappy players fall outside of the group that SE is trying to please.

Not everyone enjoys long grinds. There aren't that many still around that appreciate the old school MMORPG style of design. Not everyone can devote the same hours to a game that they devote to their jobs and families. Young adults are also more used to mobile style gaming, where the game is played in short bursts to get the dopamine hits from frequent but trivial rewards.

How many players are still out there that actually enjoy and have the time for the long grinds?

[R041]

How many players are still out there that actually enjoy and have the time for the long grinds?

Luckily for them, the MSQ already makes XIV the longest grind in any MMO to date.

AND it lacks dopamine, how cool is that!
I'm celibate and don't do drugs, so the XIV MSQ is right for me! Can't get me too excited, or I might actually start to enjoy life. lol