This game has WAY bigger issues than some server problems.

[Zarzak]

and more community friendly - which I'm sure when written out like that Yoshi-P himself would have a hard time disagreeing that is a good thing. Thought I would make that clear.

Hundreds of threads have been brought up discussing how the LFG tools prevalent in the newer MMOs (originally made popular by that MMO apocalypse that is WoW) killed any community a MMO has on the server scale.

While I wouldn't mind seeing "interesting" items and agree those abilities you posted from 1.23 are more interesting and have more thought required in their use... Neither of those issues are things I personally am concerned about.

LFG tool though I'd set on fire and watch it burn as it cried for help.

Every year we hear about this "next generation of mmos" and it never comes. The majority of new mmos tank whether they're WoW clones or not. Innovation does not equate with success or failure. I'm not sure what games you're referring to this time, but measure your expectations accordingly. That's not meant to be an insult, just a precaution.

They fail because they all have 1 underlying issue they all share that was in fact made popular by WoW.

They are all designed to draw the crowds aka the casuals. Who lose interest in a couple months then quit. They don't design to draw a relatively smaller but more committed crowd that will stick around. Look at FF11 and EQ. They are both the oldest mainstream MMOs that still release content but still generate income. Why? Because instead of trying to attract 1M people who all quit after 6 months. They attracted 200k people who stuck around for 12+ years.

in case math isn't your strong suit guess who made more money?

Squeenix needs money. They need this game to appeal to the broadest crowd possible. If that means being a low fantasy wow clone, than so be it. Hopefully they will expand to interesting ways in the future, but right now, they need every sub and every sale, and I think this is their best way of getting it. Make it accessible so everyone can enjoy it, not just the hardcores.

Read above. hardcores keep a game alive. Casuals cover development costs.