Absence of end-game content : the downfall of every MMO.

[Sybreed]

You know, funnily enough I forgot about FF XI when I was talking about WoW and EQ. The great thing is that my point still stands, as FF XI lasted the test of time by being a huge bitch of a grind with massive timesinks. This kept people in check while new content was developed. If a new mmo were to come out that had massive time sinks, grind, gated content, and the whole nine yards ala vanilla WoW, EQ, and FF XI, it would be decried as archaic and a "korean grinder" and would likely be abandoned. Developers know this, so they make games that are analogous in those regards to WOTLK era WoW, knowing that the new mmo crowd is averse to those things. As a result, people cut through the content like a hot knife through butter and then cry there is no endgame at launch or shortly after. Developers cannot win nowadays. The armchair development experts go on singing their sad tune about how it's surely possible to make an mmo that runs well, is balanced and also has a truckload of endgame content to satiate the rabid no lifers and heavy gamers, all without too much grind, or time sinks/gated content, etc. These people are delusional and should be ignored.

[ArcheustheWise]

You know, funnily enough I forgot about FF XI when I was talking about WoW and EQ. The great thing is that my point still stands, as FF XI lasted the test of time by being a huge bitch of a grind with massive timesinks.

Mmos don't need massive timesinks to work. SWG pre cu worked fine and was a fun sandboxish mmo to boot, great socialization in that game back in the day.