This game is on a terrible state right now.

[Jojoya]

If this is the case, why are you still here defending it then? Go touch grass.

I think a lot of posters in this thread on both sides could use a couple of hours away from the game to touch grass. The air in the echo chambers is bound to be stale at this point and the conversation isn't getting anywhere.

My own perspective:
Was Endwalker as good as it should have been? No.
Was it bad? No, it was still good. But it was a bit of a let down when we've seen SE do better.
Is it a sign of doom and gloom for the game's future? No. We haven't seen any major changes to the basic game formula that tend to precede rapid declines.

We were warned at the announcement showcase back in Feb 2021 that post 6.0 Endwalker was going to be a period of transition for the game and that things would be a little different from what we were used to as they start to set up the game's future. To me, that warning seems to have been fairly accurate.

If the transition is making you uncomfortable and you feel like you're not getting what you are paying for, then stop paying. Wait for the transition to finish in its entirety (which should happen between 6.55 and 6.58) and return between that point and 7.0 to get caught up. Play other games that are more fun to you in the meantime.

Have a house? It's your decision but I don't see the point of paying to keep a house in a game you don't want to be playing. That's the proverbial ball-and-chain but you've done it to yourself. Let go of the house and move on. If you're intent on keeping the house, then stop complaining that you have to pay for it. You're the one who has decided that keeping the house is more important than the money. If you genuinely believe that the housing system is designed as it to keep you subbed, congratulations. You've helped to create the problem you're complaining about by doing exactly what you think SE wants you to do.

Make choices that improve your life instead of clinging to a past clouded by rose-colored glasses. Things will never be the same as they were. We've grown older and changed. Friends we made along the way have come and in some cases gone. The game has grown older and changed. It's no longer fresh and new to us now that we have several years of experience playing it. Taking the break from the game will give a clearer vision of whether the game in recent months has been a positive presence in your life that should be continued or a negative that's been dragging you down.

You do yourself no favors by pretending loyalty to something that has no loyalty to you in turn because it's incapable of loyalty. It's just a game. Why cling to it when it's making you so unhappy?

No business succeeds through mindless praise. Even fancy restaurants widely celebrated for their incredible cuisine will change up their menu to remain competitive and relevant.

And yet sometimes those changes have led to the restaurant's failure. The customers showed up expecting a particular experience and they were served something else. There was no surge of new customers responding to the change because they were already patronizing other restaurants offering the same thing.

Change has to be done carefully.