Quote Originally Posted by Ath192 View Post
its like people don't want there to be newer and better MMOs coming out.
It's great for there to be a new game, but I am only interested in certain IPs such as Final Fantasy. So for example, why should I play New World? I don't care about it, its lore or its story. Why should I play Ashes of Creation? I don't care about it, its lore or its story either. Graphics aren't everything to me.

Making XIV solo friendly via trusts is only a means to enable putting this game out on maintenance mode so people can play it in the future in case they want to revisit older FF titles. This game is following the trajectory XI did.
It will be useful should it ever become like XI, but it is nowhere near that point. It is actually a tactic to grow the game. Get people who "only play solo Final Fantasy games" to play FF14. In passing, they may have a conversation with someone and end up in a Free Company and get dragged into the social environment. It's smart, really, because a lot of people who play an MMORPG are initially quite anxious and don't want to interact with anyone, but fall into the social environment when they bump into someone.

Not only will SE invest in a new MMO, XIV will start to wane and lose players instead of grow
It's possible. History says it happens to every MMORPG except WoW, after all. However, WoW is proof they can endure. In the age of AI, it's possible any tangled spaghetti can be undone efficiently so that a game can modernize. So we'll just have to see.

the formula is stale
To you. People have been saying that since Heavensward and Stormblood. Because it was a formula even then. "Oh the next raid tier will be 4 alexander raids, 2 dungeons, 2 extremes and an alliance raid". Yes, so what?

The main story has ended.
Not true, but you know this.

SHB - EW was the peak.
Could be. I'll agree that the viral moment seemed like it could be a peak moment. But it remains to be seen. Neither of us are fortune tellers, and it could go viral again somehow or just continue to grow to have a persistent population that is higher than that viral moment.

This statement is basically endorsing complacency. It's fine guys... lets just keep it as is. Probably the worst business tactic to use out there, for ANY business.
The worst business tactic would be to throw away a game that is at the current height of its success statistically (a higher persistent population than in prior expansions), put it in maintenance mode and focus all efforts on a new MMORPG.