I created a forum account to discuss the SAM changes in the week before they were released. Sadly it seems they arent earnest about taking player feedback, or about posting that long form explanation post Yoshi said they would about SAM/NIN. Many people who dont play SAM have voiced their position that "well they've done this to other classes in the past (healers, DRK, SMN, etc) so SAM players shouldnt whine about the changes". This is wholly illogical. If it was wrong to ignore player feedback in the past on those changes and the outrage those caused, then surely it continues to be wrong to not take player feedback into consideration. FFXIV is a GAME and is meant to be played for FUN. If player enjoyment is affected negatively by a change, dev stubbornness and refusal to address, discuss, or fix said issues is a PROBLEM. Blizzard did this all the time - they "knew better" and made changes players didnt want and refused to change them back. However, Blizzard at least does blue posts - long form posts explaining and discussing changes with players. We havent seen that from SE. If players are having less fun and its a widespread issue, they should properly explain what problem they addressed, why it couldnt have been done a plethora of other ways, and what they plan to do about it moving forward. Implementing an unpopular change then giving radio silence on the issue, stubbornly sticking to your guns over and over again is not a recipe for long term player retention or trust.

People seem to forget that for nearly 2 decades Blizzard was a beloved, trusted dev that players put so much faith into. Changes that seemed or felt bad were chalked up to "well the devs are doing their best, they are good guys, so lets not act like the sky is falling". People loved the devs until...they didnt. I really really like YoshiP and the devs, but that love and trust isnt an infinite resource. At some point they will have to do a better job of actively discussing and addressing concerns with players and not making pronouncements from on high, or there will come a time people will stop giving them tons of rope and leeway to work with.