LOLPATCH 1.16a

[Abriael]

Abby, your arguments are about whether or not a description of the game is subjective or not, and are avoiding the real point of the topic...

Maybe you missed the whole lot of posts in which i brought quite a few arguments on why patching and "monumental " changes don't come at the snap of fingers
I'd go out on a limb and say that they are perfectly in topic, isn't it?

The game is currently in an abysmal state. Is there enough time to fix this game to boost its popularity, to make it fun, and to bring it to the level we all want it to be - and will the media attention even give FFXIV a real thought considering all the giant upcoming games - or will that review be left to the interns?

Considering that a console release is normally considered a completely different animal by the media (lots of media outlets didn't even review the game because they're exclusive to consoles, including most prominent japanese ones, like Famitsu or Degenki playstation), there isn't much of a doubt that when the PS3 release will hit it will be covered properly.
Actually the more time passes, the more chance there will be of an actual full fledged re-review, instead of a simple update.
This not to mention that (in the case by the PS3 release the game will have significantly improved), such an improvement is a "story" for which gaming journalists lust for, to try and fill their site with something more appreciated than "list of top 10 mustaches in gaming". Stories bring hits. That's all there's to it.

"Square Enix turns the tables and delivers a great Final Fantasy on PS3!" Sounds much better and draws many more hits than a low key update stuck in a side column.

Obviously, there will be some publications (see Kotaku, for instance) that are extremely biased against anything Square Enix (or Japanese development in general), and there's no doubt that those will do everything they can to downplay any kind of improvement.
Unfortunately that doesn't depend on the timing of the expansion or the patches. It's something SE (and many other developers that have been targeted by a certain area of the press) has to deal with by delivering quality content.

See it this way. There's a much higher chance that SE will get favorable review is the team takes the necessary time (up to a limit) in order to inject an high level of quality in this game, instead of rushing like they already did once, and crapping everything to try and get it out earlier.

Second chances in this kind of market don't exactly come every day. I'm sure you understand that burning it due to excessive hurry is not a good idea.