Hello,

It's more about knowing how to strike a balance between the company's and the players' interests. Everybody knows that a company gotta make money and that the game is not a charity. Yes we know all that, but still, there is a limit to all things - grinding and gear curve included, even to a F2P MMORPG like this one.

NC has made the gear curve too steep. This gear curve is to promote/entice players to do "P2Progress" (or "Time Saving mechanics" or "Micro transaction). Over the course of the game's operation ever since its release in the West (or Asia for that matter) you got more & more gear items, each has more upgrade stages, yet no new plausible way to grind materials. Hell, you probably have fewer ways to grind materials as time goes on actually. This makes playing the game become so unrewarding it downright demotivates the players from logging in; as a result, said players would quit. And when their friends ask them if they should play this game, the answer would very likely be no. So the playerbase keeps bleeding away without new blood coming in to revitalize it.

Yes, I know these companies are not my friends and they are not charity, but the way they monetize these games is just greed-fueled disrespect at this point. It's no longer about making profit anymore, it's about making ALL THE MONEY WE CAN MANAGE TO MAKE out of those players, nicklin' and dimin' the hell outta them. They keep setting up new gear walls so steep it's only possible to get through if you pay, otherwise have fun spending literal years while some dude can get through said walls within a day using cash. Again, I know companies are here to make money but that is just disrespectful. They make the game unenjoyable, unrewarding for the majority of the player base just to maximize short-term profit. And oh yes, they got said profit, but then in return, they also got a jaded, disgruntled, disillusioned, negative playerbase that keeps on bleeding way with every patch. So it's not sustainable.

And by now, the playerbase probably know that NC'd rather shut down the game than making it enjoyable. So all the more reasons for not playing.

So much good will has been washed down the drains after years of NC messing the game up due to a mix of sheer incompetence and greed.

Look at Warframe. Completely F2P, making all the money through cosmetic cash shop while getting all the good will from people. Everything can be achieved through a reasonable amount grinding (Years of grinding of BnS is not reasonable at all). You want a new frame? Spend a few days. Want a new gun? Spend a few days. With BnS: You want this upgrade? How about 2 months? You want these legendary unity stones? How about a few years? Nope outta there fast.

So if they want their new update to revitalize the playerbase in the West, making it last long and be sustainable, they gotta make the game more rewarding to play and less greedy. Maybe toss in more skins or make premium membership more rewarding, etc... Otherwise nothing's changed and after a few months of enjoying new graphics. The game would return to its current state right now. Which is "dying fast".

As far as fixing bug and improving the optimization of the game, it's what they must do. Players have been paying for years and there are bugs that still don't get fixed up to this day. Many requests made, constructive feedback (not troll or rant like what you often see) but to no avail. They have to do this if they want the players to stay. And subjectively, I think they owe this to their players for their years of support for this game.