"Free" games are games that make their money with predatory gambling mechanics. So they have a huge budget (Lets be real, more flexible staff too than SE).

I think if 8.0 "fails" and follows the same formula, I think its time to thank Yoshi-P for all his hardwork, and retire him to leading other games, and get an actual leader who focuses solely on FFXIV and how to make it competent and worth a monthly sub. And TRY to hire people who are passionate about changing the game while respecting the old, people who want to take risks with the new arc of the story too, and the gameplay. And not just "Follow their senpais to the letter and cash in a paycheck"

Final fantasy has always been about pushing boundaries and innovation. I'm not seeing a lot here, or at least the urgency to do so.

There's a lot of QoL that just hasnt been done, like shifting combos into one button to clear bloat.