Eureka wasn't so bad, but endgame in ffxiv is lacking without eureka

[Vahlnir]

Only 5.8% of the NA playerbase had reached level 50 in Pyros at the time Hydatos was released.
I find it hard to believe that this number rose to more than 10-20% with the lure of BA, or the extra 6 months waiting for Shadowbringers.
Odd that apparently all of that 5.8% are commenting in this thread...

If that number is real it doesn't really surprise me. There was definitely less and less people with each installment of Eureka just from personal observation. I wasn't around for Pagos 1.0 but I know it broke a lot of people. Pyros was pretty busy a lot of the time but it certainly wasn't no Anemos. Hydatos was slightly less busy. I think a lot of people were just there to get their relics/armor and leave asap. Even on the average day, NMs weren't being prepped nearly as often as they were in Pyros. Nowhere near, in fact. Most of the NMs being prepped at all were considered "easy". I think I only saw PW a total of 3 times as well, which is a huge difference from seeing Louhi or even Penny almost daily (and usually multiple times) if I spent enough time in them.