So what exactly is driving the developers to keep going?

[TheDecay]

No one remembers it, because that never happened.

Savage didn't open up until a month after release, and the date at which it'd open was revealed when they announced the 2 week delay.

What a blatant lie. Raiders form statics based on the understanding that the first Savage tier releases 4 weeks after expansion launch. The sudden delay in Endwalker moved Savage deep into holiday season when many people aren't available to raid. This caused many statics to quickly need to replace members and many players needed to find new statics. I'm shocked people have the memory of a goldfish.

Not to mention - the first raid tier was a disaster in terms of stability. The moment someone disconnects, you can say goodbye to your prog night.

You should try not to write fake news like that in the future, particularly seeing as you have not even cleared Asphodelos until July, so you have zero knowledge of what occurred in week 1 of the raid tier.