You need to realize something: FFXIV is currently the industry leader. Everyone is looking at this game to see what it does so they can mimic it. So what's going to happen if they cap playtime and people don't unsub in droves? Every single MMO will now have this bullet in their gun for every server overload ever. Can't buy new servers for a while? Cap playtime. Don't want to spend the money? Cap playtime. ISP bandwidth a problem? Cap playtime.

And no, a "reasonable" cap like 12 hours won't help, because once they get away with that, the number creeps downward. Today its 12, tomorrow its 10. Soon its revolutionary when someone caps your playtime at 5 hours instead of the industry standard 3.

I feel like I'm standing here at the moment when players said en masse "hey, I'd pay real money to get an advantage" and loot boxes were born. This is also an overwhelming negative for the entire MMO industry. Don't give them an easy way out to spend less money and give you less for the same sub. You can't buy servers today. You will be able to soon. Don't ask for a permanent nerf to your experience in response to a temporary problem.