A design philosophy flaw. Misunderstanding what is fun and reward structure.

[Hasrat]

There's nothing else to do this patch that's new, though.

Not that I really have much to contribute to this discussion, but, isn't this more of a mid-patch? Content that they intended to be released in 4.2 but got delayed a bit? Seems a bit unfair to declare nothing to do this patch when the entirety of 4.2 was already released.

Not that it entirely invalidates your argument, depending on how quickly you get through 4.2, but, that's just down to play style and what players individually get out of any content.

For players that have been playing often enough long enough, to have literally completed anything and everything, it's doubtful any patch content will ever hold their attention.

[RiyahArp]

Not that I really have much to contribute to this discussion, but, isn't this more of a mid-patch?

Yeah, but the past content releases were loaded with a lot of optional non-gameplay stuff that seemed to have replaced gameplay. Bard instruments and their revision, and the raid video capture tool come to mind. The actual content was pretty thin and it was all the same things we had done before, with slightly different stories. It's been a pretty long dry spell.

[RokkuEkkusu]

I think the question is what exactly do people want.

People want rewards this, rewards that.

People want rewards, but some don't want to work hard enough for the rewards compared to others who put the time and effort in.

People want to do content and/or help others catch up with content, but there are times the rewards are not worth it. At the end of the day, they might not do it.

Different people have different aspect of how they experience fun.

For me, I want to keep playing the game as it is because the gameplay sates my lust for combat. FFXIV also changed my life in which helped me become more sociable with others (I am an anti-social person IRL.) I also help others from time to time because I feel motivated. Finally, the gil, mounts, experience, equipment, other in-game objects, and times I shared with people are ones I won't take for granted. I'll make use of whatever I aim for and earn when I get it.