I think a Meracydia expansion is a given at this point. Helping in the war effort, finding the last great dragon. The WOL being a hero again and giving SE a chance to truly introduce a new cast, new trusts, new updated jobs would be a great selling point.

Doing exploration content in 8.15 and front loading the expansion would be probably the biggest change to make. Like the OP I am also concerned because we saw a Huge failure in terms of job balance at the beginning of the expansion and that was with barely any changes to jobs.

Many people are expecting big changes to jobs and adjusting the 2 minute meta. That is copium. I think the best we can ask for is a better MSQ experience and a better patch cycle release in terms of content provided.