I thought not expecting much at this point was a thing, since they closed the last story arch.
correlating this publication to people actually quitting.... maybe other factors are at hand? like, idk, new games, IRL's , or coming to the realization that this game is 20 yrs old?
atleast people should be happy SE has not pulled the plug on the game, as other companies would had already discarded the game to another peasant company, barely surviving on someone's home brewed "vanilla" server, or continuing the game as a region locked "JP Onry" game.
And kinda nice Se is actually planning to do something for the anniversary, even if it will take 3 years.
Other companies be like:
"player base dropped 15%? other game is more popular than us! PULL THE GD PLUG!"