Something that I want to point out is;
We already have our biggest example of Player Feedback that has led to a loss of game potential:
Boss Spawn times.
Emphlant Vouchers come purely from killing bosses.
They are nontradeable.
400 are required to get the best weapon currently in the game.
In less than two weeks of Open Beta, a player has already farmed this weapon.
Why? Because players complained about the spawn time on bosses.
They used to be 2 hour spawns, which result in 12 spawns a day, and 5 bosses per map area dropped vouchers (60 potential vouchers a day at maximum, possibly ksed/taken by someone else).
Now, after the player complaint, spawn times on all bosses are 10 minutes. That's 1/12 the time it used to take to spawn.
Result: There is no long term content left in this game to drive you to play for more than 1-2 months. You can acquire the content all in 2 weeks. On the old Spawn time, it would take 13 weeks to accomplish.
And then, what is the point in acquiring it, if pvp is dead?
Another example of failure:
Making Ledise/Raden Vouchers Tradeable.
I know alot of players wanted this, but atm it requires zero effort to get a shop created ultimate weapon. Buy 10-40 other players Vouchers, and viola: you have one of the game's top weapons. And on top of that, that means in 40 days, EVERYONE would have one.
MMO's were not designed to be conquered in 2 weeks. They were designed to engross players for months if not years.
We really need to find that line, where Player Wants = Player Needs = Developer Designed Supply (market Equilibrium at Economies of Scale), instead of following this wrecked course of Player Wants =/= Player Needs, but do = Developer Designed Supply.
The grind is also very easy. So easy in fact, that we had max levels in a week. A Week! Isn't the point of a game, to have something to do?
If we're max level in 1 week, max weaponed in 2 weeks, our Best Armor comes from a Quest,
What is left, except trying to link gear over and over while runes break, waiting for nonexistent pvp, that occurs because it is "Optional" and well, one faction is "Opting Out?"
I really hope these things are addressed, because at the current momentum, I can foresee the game losing majority community interest in 2 months and getting shut down. Unless, ofc, you can supply 100% player turnover rates every 2 months ....
PS: I do not consider additions to the item mall a Game balancer, or a Primary focus for player retention. If anything, it has the opposite effect. While AP will allow us to better maximize our gear, it will also allow us to do it faster, and it will create the P2W atmosphere most MMO players hate. The changes we need are mechanic based changes.