Quote Originally Posted by gifthorse View Post
All the content the developers have planned for us is purely in response to the player polls and individual player's comments/demands. SE has reached the point where they are appealing and conceding to every self-proclaimed expert rather than seeking to improve their own vision for the game. A cursory glance at the changes released so far or slated for release in the future (i.e., aggro indicator, AH, auto-attack combat) is enough to prove that they will compromise on artistic integrity and palatability just for the sake of pleasing their current players. Sadly, most of the people who still play are FFXI fanatics or WoW players, so much so that the polls are slanted in their favour, as opposed to being slanted in favour of an overall better game.

If they think a combat system centred on auto-attack is going to be a drawcard against the upcoming MMOs like Guild Wars 2 and TERA, then FFXIV has a surprise coming. Similarly, if they merely think that changing FFXIV into FFXI-2 is going to save them, then again, all they are doing is shuffling current subscribers between games, and in the end aren't gaining any revenue.

This is an artistic issue as much as a practical one. Auto-attack is boring and many players who aren't FFXI losers would agree, hence why FFXIV will fail if it seeks only to appeal to such players and not the majority.

But whatever. Enjoy your slowly degenerating game while you still can.
Don't let the door hit your ass on the way out, mr cool guy.