I think the answer is really really simple. Decrease the grind, completely remove time-gated content (as in allow it to be played whenever but adjust the rates of things), and stop trying to reinvent the wheel. A.k.a. just doing what other MMOs have already successfully done and are still doing to this day.
I have a rousing suspicion, due to the lack of player-interaction from the dev-team regarding the issues mentioned, that the core of the problem is likely that someone 'high-up' in the company is pushing this.
They want the game to be unique, but in doing so they're making it so the game isn't as fun as it could be. Creating a grind fest with no good incentive, making it so that players have to prioritize this game above all others. Making it so that, if you want to play PvP in a competitive-sense, you have to spend dozens of dozens of hours creating the perfect tems or be super duper lucky.
In trying t...