Decreasing frequencies makes a connecting flight far less appealing, 2-3 hours in between is fine to stretch your legs and look around the shops but once that goes much past 4 hours a direct flight starts to look more attractive. 10 hours journey time vs 17 hours total would swing it for most people unless the fare difference was considerable.
Smaller aircraft are needed in this case which is another nail in the coffin for the A380. Two B787 flights per day instead of one A380 will be required to keep connection and total journey times to acceptable levels.