Players do have a right to negative opinions. And with the last few months of there being incredibly little engagement from Anet, its not surprising a fair number have given up, and have had their views tainted by that. It has still to be seen if this will be a more permanent move towards engagement, or just a flash in the pan to attempt to mollify some members of the community. There is a lot of negativity towards Anet at the moment, despite their renewed efforts, and while that is lamentable, it is a situation that Anet are not blameless in creating. Players will moan regardless, but at least appearing to largely ignore it breeds more negativity. Trust is easily lost and hard won, and Anet will have to endure it a bit more until they regain the lost trust from those aspects of the community.
As for the OP, despite the rantiness, there are some valid points raised in my opinion. One of which is Anets “we’re monitoring the situation” comments, which has been described in other threads can be frustrating as it can be seen as a rather vacuous comment. We’re unsure of what action might be taken. We don’t necessarily need the specifics, but the actions’ intended effects could be useful.
The state of the economy is always a going concern, and as with any economy, any move that will benefit one part of it will almost certainly be a detriment to another. That said there is a feeling rising that Anet’s goal is less about creating a working economy in the game, and more about coercing players into buying gems to fund Anet. On one hand thats fine, as Anet need to pay the bills, but then, some of the decisions made seem to be more about using the stick to persuade rather than the carrot. On a personal note I looked at the price of gems with gold yesterday and can only say it is getting prohibitively expensive for me. I don’t mind that so much as I buy gems with cash regularly, and the current hike is good for buying gold with gems, which i have begun to do, but can see how it can be off putting for new players who aren’t sure how much they want to invest into gaining wealth and vanity/cosmetic items before they’ve decided the game is a going concern for them.
As for the things the OP has said were promised and have thus far not been implemented, I think its right that Anet gave a glimpse of their plans, for purposes of feedback, getting other suggestions and hyping players up, but they should have used a much more visible disclaimer that these are plans and ideas, and not guaranteed content yet.
There are points in rants as much as there are points in praise. Anet ay have finally woken up to the idea that some players have genuine criticism and grievances, and that their woeful communication hasn’t helped in recent months, and its from that more negative start they have to try again. I’m glad of the seemingly renewed efforts, and am more confident that with that renewed effort there may be more effort in sorting some issues players have. Provided this is a genuine attempt at community interaction, which is something that can only be confirmed in time. And I would be very concerned indeed if Anet only took the yes-men seriously. If Anet give up their engagement drive at the first sign of a few rants, then I would only conclude their efforts are insincere.
The kind of people who will set an orphanage on fire after locking themselves inside it.