The reason FFXIV is lacking content is because of casualization.

[caffe_macchiato]

As a player from ARR, I don't think the ARR and HW "glory days" are as glorified as people make them out to be. I remember at the end of 2.5 that I was more bored than I had ever been in my life. The only content we had back then was extreme primal mount farming, Secure PvP (and only Secure), Final Coil of Bahamut which was pretty hard to get a party for depending on your server. Housing, crafting, gathering, fishing ect and hunt trains. The only lengthy content was relic and back then nobody liked it. Heavensward was more or less the same but we had Seal Rock, HW relic, and Deep Dungeon mixed in. If you really think about it, this formula hasn't changed over the years, there's just more retro content to act as filler. There's a lot more stuff I can do these days than I could do back in those days. It's just not anymore engaging than it was back then is the real issue.

Also, the player base itself greatly raised its own expectations since then. Many FFXIV players still played other games like WoW and never viewed FFXIV as a substitute for them. But ever since ShB, people in the community have been pressuring others to leave WoW and other MMOs, gaslighting us about our other games, and calling us “mazed” cattle. They’re so fanatic that they buy ads with their own money to promote the game on behalf of Square Enix. They relentlessly trash any and all “competing” games, particularly WoW, because they believe that FFXIV is superior and without parallel. Problem is, FFXIV was never designed to replace the old game. It’s a part-time MMO that you’re supposed to sub for only a few months out of the year at most.

It’s time that people lower their expectations for this product. It’s not the best MMO, and it’s definitely not meant to be anyone’s “main game”. Minus a few missteps like Eureka, game design has been pretty consistent in enforcing that idea. Square has simply been pruning the last remaining vestiges of inconsistency around this game by simplifying the combat and content delivery during this expac. Now FFXIV is essentially what it was always supposed to be. We need to realize that and limit our own play time (and subscriptions) accordingly. Don’t get TOO invested.