live service keeps my group together
I get why people hate live service stuff, but a finished game does not keep six adults meeting every Thursday. A new mode or weekly mission does.
We log in, complain about the balance patch, clear the challenge, look at the shop and spend an hour doing something completely unrelated. The update is mostly an excuse to gather.
A static multiplayer game can be great and still disappear from the group chat once everybody has seen it. Seasons give the lazy friend a date and the obsessed friend something to explain.
Not every game should do it. But the one game our group shares? Keep feeding that thing forever.