Why is the game going down every expasion?

[ddwarbird]

I think FFXIII was way way worse for that, but I do take your point, FFX had the same problem but that game was turn based so I can forgive it's flaws, plus it served the story, being a pilgrimage from one area to another. There is no need for dungeons in FFXIV to be so linear, some branching paths to the same bosses with different content/mobs in them would not go a miss. Maybe something like "Northern Crater" from FFVII where you can pick one of three pathways to get down to the same boss. However FFXIV does seem to be "Hallway everything", especially when you start to notice how segmented and instanced the world map is, it begins to feel very limited.

I think that is why a lot of players left, once the story tanked, people were less willing to forgive the games flaws and linear design.

Final Fantasy in general has had a major identity crisis since 10, with the latest mainline entry playing more like Devil May Cry then an actual RPG.