Combat system is beyond saving.

[ty_taurus]

Note that the number is still MUCH higher then in Stormblood or anything before that. Also note that numbers DO tend to drop during an expansion (Shadowbringers being an exception because of the flood of people from WoW and content creators joining in.) and peak back up when a new one drops, because many just come for the story and don't give a crap about patch content. (Also note that chart only goes up to Q2 of LAST YEAR and doesn't include the last two entire quarters of 2023. Or well... since SE does March to March technically it doesn't include October 2023-March 2024) I think they will be just fine if a few doomposters leave because they can't handle growing pains.

A good chunk of current players started the game after the systems you are defending were removed, and are totally fine with how they are, or believe it's workable.

It also says thats based on characters with new achievements... I've gone months without getting new achievements, but I've still been subbed and logged in almost every day to just hang out with friends and decorate my house.

The rise in population has nothing to do with the simplification of job design and everything to do with the increase in FFXIV's marketing budget and general praise of the main story quest. If we still had the general level of gameplay complexity that existed in stormblood or even heavensward, we wouldn't have a smaller population, because how easy or complex the combat is is not the main selling point for most people.

Most players are perfectly fine with the combat system the way it currently is, but I would bet money that they'd also be completely fine if it was the way it was in past expansions as well, because again, their focus isn't on the combat system. And that's okay. Everyone is entitled to play for their own reasons, but that's exactly what the problem is with the modern combat system is it's sacrificing the people who play for the combat system in order to make an already extremely accessible game more accessible. Like, the people who aren't here for the combat system aren't struggling, so this continued push to simplify and streamline makes no sense to me, because it doesn't seem like its targeting anyone at all.