I know a few players on my server that have stated that 1.18 is do or die for them.
I don't know how high their expectations are, but i'm guessing fairly high as this is the first major patch.
I myself can't honestly say if I'll keep playing if this patch is poor.
I'm quite tired of having little or nothing to do with my main class, and the only thing keeping other ls members going is grinding leves on their other classes. I for one am so sick of leves I'd like to see the whole system tossed out. (you can grind as much sp an hour fighting regular mobs in a party)
I do know without a doubt, that I'm reaching the point on the current content that i could care less about playing anymore, so I welcome the 1.18 patch and hope it makes things a bit more enjoyable.