Yeppp. I don't think DE has ever echoed that claim, and this project's apparently been around for a while and they let it exist without really acknowledging it, but it definitely brings to mind other live service games that are either totally unplayable or have ripped out half of their own games over the years (cough destiny 2 cough)

All content is completely free, story bits and all, and they've long since moved on from "you had to be there" moments - there are a handful of things that aren't accessible now in the current game (trials/raids which were apparently super buggy anyway, some narratives told via short-lived Aert missions, and the Founder items are remaining founder-exclusive out of respect for those who supported early on, but most people who own those items vouch for releasing them to everyone, so we'll see). DE tends to be extremely transparent and active within the community.

Plus the game's monetization model (it's a live service game, they've still got bills to pay) is arguably the most "friendly" I've ever seen - the paid currency is completely tradeable between players, nearly everything can be reasonably earned in-game, and there are very few cosmetics that are truly paid-only. It feels much more like an option that's there to support the devs rather than a nagging "feature" or any p2w nonsense.

Finally there's this whole OpenWF thing the thread is about - they surely know about it, and while they haven't explicitly acknowledged it, it seems like they're letting it exist without any issues. When the game eventually stops, it'll still be fully playable in this way.

1. You can host a dedicated Server
2. its fully pve
3. every part of the story added can be replayed
4. Grind exists, but if you spend enough to trigger the barrier you might just pay like 10€