It sucks this 3rd party feature is getting such negative attention from the game makers. I really think the time has come for them to lean in and adopt a more welcoming stance. I hoped they would eventually allow the QoL type features MQ provides for character interaction with the game and improve the ability to box multiple characters, while making a hard redline stance against fully automated play, active hacking to improve a characters abilities above what is intended, reduce an NPC's ability outside of what is intended (ex. super strong characters that 1 shot bosses and never die, making a raid boss hit for 1 dmg, warping, etc.), etc. Who knows, maybe this is an opportunity for EQ to roll the best parts of MQ into their in-game client. I mean hell, MQ is better QA tested then most of the patches/content they roll out these days.
The decision of the base MQ coders is theirs to make, as i understand it, they don't get directly paid/compensated for their time doing their work outside of donations here and there.
As for the paid add-on item CWTN / Grind / etc., I have been back and forth on the "best" way to handle this news, and I can see both sides.
If i paid yesterday for a full year sub, because i enjoyed the product and wanted to show support by pre-buying 12 months, its a big kick in the teeth that the program is no longer working as it was intended/advertised as. However, the makers of the add-on plug-ins rely on work done by others.
The best analogy I could come up with: If you buy a car today, and learn tomorrow that your local government is no longer supporting the roads from the highway to your house because they are too run down, only the people on your block use those connection roads, cost too much to maintain and repair, and once every month the exit ramp has to be rebuilt/reconnected - its not really the fault of the car dealer who sold you a car. Your car still works, but now you need to go off roading to get there (the EMU support aspect of it).
However, if I was a recent customer who just bought a long sub, and while I agree with my analogy that it may not necessarily be apt to expect a pro-rated refund because of something the seller doesn't control, it still doesn't feel like the "right way to handle the situation", since what you bought is now effectively useless.
I guess time will tell if this changes and someone steps up to keep MQ going, or the folks over at EQ decide to take a different stance regarding MQ use.