This "article" was already posted, but at least you included the text of it instead of just a link. This was the key part for me:

Director and producer Naoki Yoshida also hinted towards the return of large-scale exploratory zones akin to Stormblood's Eureka and Shadowbringers' Bozja, something that has been sorely missing from Endwalker. While they were admittedly quite divisive zones when they were first released, they were my favourite ways to grind for each expansion's relic weapon and an enjoyable middle ground in difficulty.
So, the writer acknowledges that the exploratory zones were divisive, that only some people really enjoyed them while others really didn't, then tries to hold it against EW for not having them again (two expansions in a row), but instead making other content that people who weren't liking the zones might enjoy better...and that's a bad thing "sorely missing" because...wait for it...the author happened to be someone who personally liked the zones.

The rest seems to lack a grasp of simple math. There is more "criticism" of EW because there's more everything for EW, because combining the WoW exodus with covid resulted in an unexpected absolute explosion of players.

This is ultimately just the latest personal opinion piece trying to masquerade as if it's talking objective facts. *Yawn*.