I completely understand what the OP is saying and I agree with most of his comments.

I am one of the players who choose to stay and help FFXIV grow into the best MMO ever (some people will always disagree, but imo it is/will be) I do like a lot of the features and options that were originally in this game. However this game was missing so much polish and optimization that most wont put up with it. I am a game/application developer myself and understand exactly what they are going through. They are not a new company and have plenty of funding and assets to turn this game around.

I have made multiple games that looked good on paper, sounded good to test teams, even passed beta testers without issues then failed in the real world. This happens to a lot of companies. I applaud SE for taking a chance and not following (WoW, Rift, etc) I would never have played this game had it followed any of those BORING MMO's (in my opinion of course). Now lets bring on the new stuff, bring on the new challenges and take all those players from other MMO's that you can beat(do everything) in 1-3 months.

Thank you SE, Continue the good work, and please start communicating with us on a more regular basis.