IMO - If this game is to stay relevant - the gameplay needs a massive overhaul
I would also direct this comment to the vast majority of MMOs.
This is an opinion. I do not mean to upset anyone. I feel that FFXIV is a beautiful game with a great story, great visuals, great music and better than most MMO gameplay.
IMO - Heavensward has perfected (and also exhausted) what I will call the "World of Warcraft" gameplay. You can only take decade-plus old gameplay so far and I believe that FFXIV has taken it to the max.
The past few months I have wondered why I can't get excited about this game. To me (and I've noticed this with others), the passion is gone. We can think of a million different reasons as to why the excitement is gone - but for me - the reason is that I am finally sick of the WoW gameplay. It's an ingenious craft - but after 10 years plus - it's time to innovate. Unfortunately FFXIV sought to utilize the WoW gameplay very late in the game.
Games such as Destiny, Dark Souls, etc. are showing us how you can take the MMO-like concept(I realize I'm using this term very loosely) and give the player almost total control over the character's action. Instant action without cool downs is the best way to describe it. In Dark Souls I can block, dodge, swing, backstab, maneuver, etc. In Destiny I can jump, dodge, retreat, hide, use weapons that vastly change my experience by adding countless different perks. In FFXIV and your typicall MMO (outside of a raid) I'm typically targeting an enemy with a mouse click, and repeating a keyboard rotation with cooldown periods between each action. New FFXIV weapons / armor increase my stats but almost never change the way I play. I can dodge rectangles and circles, but the enemies have no mass or genuine hit detection (I can run through them).
I realize that the WoW gameplay "is" fun. I've enjoyed it for over a decade. But for me, the "is" has become a "was." How many more expansion packs can FFXIV have with this same gameplay? What more can be done "fresh" with the same gameplay? We are probably only a few years away from a new MMO that completely changes the way we play MMOS (likely incorporating concepts from the Soul series and Destiny). If FFXIV wants to stay relevant, IMO, now is the time to innovate (which they are hopefully already doing). I'm hopeful the next expansion changes the way we play this wonderful game.
