Out of touch? PLL

[Jeeqbit]

Presumably, if you have a good memory the same applies to extreme going into savage.

Yes. There are actually some savage floors that are easier or about the same as an extreme. If you can do an extreme you can at least get through the first 2 floors of savage usually.

No, but then again they've never had an expansion this poorly received before either.

Probably not, but ARR and Stormblood weren't exactly praised either. After Stormblood released, even if people weren't as critical of it, they at least continued to say that Heavensward was the best expansion and that the pacing (split between Ala Mhigo and Othard) was problematic from their perspective.

October to 2nd November would be 4th month.

It has been a bit more than 4 months for every EW patch. In EW, it was 18-20 weeks between each major patch and it will be about 19 this time.

I want SE to invest more an hire more people.

I guarantee they are. They have talked of training new people on a regular basis in blogs and at fanfest panels. They often advertise jobs at the end of Live Letters if they are struggling to fill them. If you look at the job listings for CBU3, you can usually find loads of them going that specifically reference FFXIV or imply it so heavily that it's obvious. I know this because I've glanced at them periodically over the years.

They have a unhealthy obsession with Trial Style Combat.

Corridors with trash often lead to criticism such as "we have to go through all that to get to the real boss", "trash is easy for raiders what's the point", "it inflates the time it takes to do the content when the real boss with the loot is at the end".

We still have this problem with last floor savage usually where there is a doorboss and it frustrates a lot of people who have to get through it to get to the "real boss" that they want to prog. Once they are through it, they can't leave to get something to eat without having to face doorboss again. It's this very problem that trials tend to solve.

Its exhausting that so much of content in this game is "circular/rectangular arena with a boss", and nothing more.

Maybe, but I don't personally have a problem with it. I suppose some people see it this way. I just don't...

What’s the point of holding back long form content for so long

So it can be developed. I think the issue with doing it earlier is how their focus is on the expansion and its story, the primary selling point of the game.

I'm slightly concerned that everything they listed was content that will be done quickly or is the "do once a day/once a week until finished" type of content

Content is what you make of it. Do it once for story, or do it lots of times for mounts, TT cards, etc.