I didn't read your full post, but in scanning it I can say that I've been trying to get an indication of the direction of the game and what they're aiming for for a significant amount of time now. I know their plans into next summer, but I don't understand where they're taking the game or what they want the game to be good at, and no one has explained that yet; so everyone has their own theories and it just ends up confusing people.

It would really be wise of them to declare the direction that they want to take, so we know where we should expect the game to really thrive in. This focus, IMO, should be the cinematic presentation and advancement of story [because SWTOR does not do this - it has voice acting but lacks the presentation, and because FFXIV cannot beat WoW in gameplay mechanics]