This expansion really feels to me like a rehash of pretty much everything we've had before.

I also am well aware this opinion will invoke the ire of the much lauded "community".

For example
  1. Gearsets
    In this new expansion we have one set of "new" gear, which is the AF gear for each class. Everything else is re-used from either SHB or STB, some of which isn't even dyeable. Where has the effort been in this? The new crafted gear is a reuse of PVP gear which the majority of people didn't even like.
  2. Music
    Fate bosses still have the ARR music... Why?

    Raid tier doesn't have a second theme.

    Lot's of reused music throughout the expansion, the new map "Dungeon" hasn't even changed even though it's a completely different lore based area.
  3. Zones
    Ultima Thule is the smallest zone we have EVER had based on walkable terrain. Labyrinthos is also tiny compared to the likes of Heavenswards areas or even Stormblood. The Ruby sea? All zones in EW have at LEAST half of the area available to explore. The Mare Lamentorum was hailed as a completely new world for us to explore and yet it's as big as both areas of Uldah put together.
  4. Voice acting
    No voice acting in raids, even though this new tier is a "completely new and original idea". Baby Elidibus has a voice in the opening scene and then nothing else? Characters within Pandaemonium are INTEGRAL to our story going forward, it's part of the reason the events of ARR happened to begin with. It's a joke that these characters are not voiced.
  5. Server issues
    Need I say more? The excuse of covid doesn't fit when I can easily go onto a server hosting company and pay for a server to be setup to the same level as the servers which Square use in their datacenters in the EU. With almost 24 hour deployable time. This can easily be seen here and here

    All this while the player subscription numbers have increased by almost a million in the last 16 months seen here