Building a comp is fun, and its nice to have something powerful that can run anything smoothly.

Expecting any and all games that come out to make full use of that system is a huge mistake. Just because i've put good money into my comp is no reason for me to expect Crysis out of every game out there. And just because i'm in the top percent of madly powerful computer users is not reason to expect them to tailor anything towards me.

Its an MMO, Scaleability is important. How many people skipped on FF14 the first time BECAUSE of the high requirements.
You need to deliver as much quality as you can, certainly. But Time, cost, feasability etc all factor in too.

Everyone likes pretty pictures. But the relentless hunt for more polys is only gonna get you so far. Penny arcade has a video series called Extra Credits. Everyone should do themselves a favor and watch all of them, but especially the Graphics-Aesthetics episode. (someone posted it in a similar thread)

Some times you have to give a little to get a little. Your not gonna get 100+ people on screen if only a handful of people can run the game. And few companies (especially one in the position SE is in) are going to spend even more time for the smaller percentage of players when they have a deadline. Maybe we'll see HD, super high res at a later date. But if your looking at things they can put off till another time, thats one of them. And despite my heavy duty rig and enjoyment of a high number of polys, if i was in their position i'd do the same.

If you want a lively game, full of players that help finance a long and healthy life for this game, you might have to give up a few polys here and there. Enjoy the Aesthetics and try not to worry so much about your FPS and poly count.