FF14 player count reached the lowest point in 4 years. We lost 75% of the playerbase.

[syldon]

I have met a fair few people who bought a skip, and they said they would have never played this game if they couldn't do that.

Were they enraged about having to do that though? The mate I have who bought was not a happy bunny.

[Kohashi]

Were they enraged about having to do that though? The mate I have who bought was not a happy bunny.

The way the storytelling takes place, the pace of it, and the 90% nonsense are probably what drove a lot of people away. Also, they said they don't care much for lore or for the game story overall.

They wanted to play at max level, where the vast majority of the playerbase is, doing current content.

Also there is not much to do while leveling. Dungeons are ok for the first few times, but annoying if you need to spam them. Fates and side quests have basically little to no XP or rewards to justify the low-level spam and EX, Coils, or Ultimates at lvl 70 can mostly be done with an organised group.

I do wish they re-purpose low-level content, maps, and zones to be appealing for everyone, but that's another thing for another time.