When I go to the gym each morning and work on whatever body part, I know its going to stay with me for the rest of my life, baring some accident causing me to be injured or suffer limb loss.
Its pretty much the same with everything we do in life, from academics, to relationships, to career growth and professional development.
FFXI used to tap into that Human ambition. It rightly did so because the game's appeal was entrenched in long term character development.
Events weren't exciting enough to get your adrenaline pumping. Those that were, such as HNM claiming/mpking/ballista were either phased out, or never achieved much success.
Event's were also not difficult, and still really aren't.
XI was never about excitement or difficulty. Its niche appeal was commitment - long term.
That was all cancelled and tossed out the window with SoA. So of course, as stated previously, a lot of us have moved on.
Our characters used to represent achievement and status, earned by dedication and resolve. By any means necessary, Ethical or unethical.
Now, the game is more like Angry Birds. Beat the new level of content, get new types of birds you can throw at the pigs and walls. Once you've finished the level, move onto the next challenge.
Additionally, the game used to be a lot bigger. Not in size, but in relevancy.
Someone starting pre-SoA could have plotted and experienced their way through 90% of the game's content, arriving in the end to end game content such as legion for large group content and NNI/Nsalvage for smaller groups.
I'm not saying true end game was by any means fulfilling.
I hated it. But I still logged on to help friends who were farming relics, better gear, mythics and empyreans.
I used to get a great sense of satisfaction from doing so. Even though I had pretty much capped out and there were only a few things I could get to improve my own character.
They could have continued to provide content that was in touch with everything they had previously released.
SoA is pretty much a new game, with nothing to do with the previous 11 years of XI.
EDIT: Not moaning or whining. I'm really fine with how things are. The fact that there really isn't much care or remorse over FFXI's current state and direction just reassures me that I'm truly gone and disconnected from the game. That doesn't mean I don't have an opinion I can share.