The current state of the "MMORPG" FFXIV is unsustainable. Here's why

[Jojoya]

"The game is still here"

Said every SWTOR, Age of Conan, Wildstar, LOTRO, etc. player

SWTOR is still here 11 years later.

Age of Conan is still here 14 years later.

Wildstar did end updying - because it was not casual friendly among other reasons.

LotRO is still here almost 16 years later.

WoW is still here 18 years later. Know what's at the root of WoW's resurgence? They've recognized even raiders are growing older and will enjoy the casual side of the game.

The players who have the problem are those who have invested too much of their identity into playing a specific game that they convinced themselves was hardcore - just to later realize the game was never as hardcore as they imagined.

I can give you WoW and ESO and to a much much lesser extent GW2 but RuneScape is pushing what MAYBE 300k? And lol everquest. You really used everquest.

When WoW was released, Blizzard considered reaching 300k players to be sign of an amazing success. The old guard of the time said they avoided dreaming of 500k, thinking it unreachable.

Even today, MMOs do well enough with 100k players that they continue producing new content.

You've set your bar too high for what constitutes a viable game.

If your ego needs a game to have millions of players before you are willing to play it, wouldn't you better off with something like LoL or Fortnite?

So are WoW Players Casuals, or all Hardcore? Why do they get more engaging mechanics? Why are there so many more WoW players even today? Why are we conflating 'Casual' with someone that literally can't do basic video game mechanics?

Is there really such a thing as being hardcore or casual considering the gaming community in general has never agreed on definitions for those terms? Perhaps we're all just people who enjoy playing games, and that's all that needs to be said.

"Engaging mechanics" is subjective. You should try listening to comments of some of the top raiders who play both games.

WoW still has so many players due to franchise loyalty and sunk cost fallacy. Over half my friends when I was still playing WoW would tell me "I'm not playing this game because I like MMOs. I play this game because it's Warcraft".