Prediction: Nerfs to SoF will have minimal/no effect on QQ.

Steps of Faith wasn't hard. The problem wasn't/isn't people not wanting to play differently. I've never been in there where people stuck around after a wipe and not seen improvement. Sure, sometimes it's not enough to clear before timer--but most groups get it in 2 or 3 tries pre-nerf.

Difficulty wasn't the issue.

The issue is steps takes, what? 15-20 minutes, if you clear it in one go (which you never get a full group of vets so it almost always takes 2-3 goes, so about a half hour to an hour)? And has no rewards. And it's on a roulette with things that take less than 5, that people queue into for something quick to do, all of which have pretty good rewards for the (minimal) time investment required (tomes, cards, good light per minute, etc. etc.)

Which causes every SoF run to go: Queue in -> "Oh fuck this" -> Half of the group leaves, and makes it very hard to get a PF going for, because, well, who wants to spend 20 to 80 minutes doing something that will net you zero rewards?

Fixing SoF requires no nerfs. What it requires is to have it drop poetics/soldiery and/or some gear, and move it over to Main Scenario Roulette. As long as it's a 20 minute slog with no rewards mixed in with < 5 minute trials people are still going to go 'Oh fuck this' and abandon.