fair enough, last time i researched it some was around the time of the server mergers and then it was "estimated" to be around 250k stable subs (very successful numbers for an MMO if you don't wow fanboi it) Keep in mind that as far as I know SE has never released official active sub numbers in any MMO franchise, including 14 and 11.

Getting on topic, ff 14 is at its core a very casual game, and I do believe it could stand for some push towards more middlecore content, preferably aimed at larger groups. On that note though, I never wanna see them abandon systems flat out like WoW did with their latest xpac, which is why i personally find it reassuring to hear them having future plans for things like Diadem. Don't get me wrong FF 11 system wise has great additions, and imo some of those have/are making their transition into ff 14. They are just not going to transition into ff 14 in an exact replica though.

quick edit: that link just sent me to a dead end.