Quote Originally Posted by BigCheez View Post
I don't think it's intention.
It's clearly not their intention. It's just happening anyway because their decisions (or execution of said decisions) are leading people to be unhappy.

For example:
  • Many people are unhappy with the job design since prior to 7.0, yet addressing it has been put off until 8.0.
  • The focus is almost entirely on the next patch, leaving almost everything else ignored and forgotten, except highly specific things such as the graphics update or dungeon revamps, while the mobile version routinely improves past content and quality of life issues across the board. Yet, a lot of complaints pertain to past systems that have been abandoned and not improved, ever.
  • When issues are addressed it's often not sufficient ie. account privacy, housing.
  • Content is formulaic and scripted, so a lot of people do it once and then feel there is no content left, as opposed to it being different (and fun) every time like PvP. Most systems aren't made to create dynamic experiences, so people get bored of repeating the exact same thing. This is not just the case with battles, but also things like Island Sanctuary. What past MMORPGs excelled at was creating dynamic experiences.
  • Even casual players like dynamic systems and PvP in any MMORPG is an easy example of that.
Hopefully the decline will help them realise that maybe the continued success of their flagship product is something worth investing in.
Yoshi-P actually just said at the Anime Expo "even if we were to double our number of developers, I don't think we'd necessarily be able to double our output while trying to maintain the same level of quality."