Variant Dungeons are the real star of this content
If I were to quickly summarise my feelings on V&C dungeons, I could do it really easily with a meme, so here's my visual TL;DR
https://i.imgflip.com/6xv148.jpg
(caption in case of image break or visual impaired readers: "Drake meme - Criterion Nah, Variant Yah")
Why Variant works:- It's story rich and wholesome
- Branching paths, choices, boss modifiers and the solo/group aspect makes it a joy to replay
- It's a quick experience and the tomestone rewards reflect that (I capped on tomestones within 2 days of the content, which is super convenient)
- If 3/4 die on a boss, you can still solo it with the right variant actions
- Nanamo and Silkie <3
What i'd love to see for the next Variant dungeon:- Removal of the random drop minions/furniture etc - add them to the currency vendor, BAM more things to spend tokens on!
- A new pool of Variant actions as Cure/Rampart feel like the only two that are necessary
- It'd be cool to "borrow" from a short list of fan favorite job spells/abilities for your variant actions
Why Criterion misses the mark:
I echo the community in my disappointment regarding the rewards.
- Materia isn't hard to obtain and should never need to be on a currency vendor other than the dedicated Materia and Scrip vendors.
- I may be speaking for myself, but I'm never sinking event currency on earrings
- The mount reward is nowhere near as cool as Silkie
The Criterion content is otherwise cool - we asked for hard content and you definitely delivered - but why would we prioritize this over other activities when the rewards are so poor? Contrary to what some others have said in their posts, I don't think we need an extra gear treadmill with this content, but some Sil'dihn combat glam would have been nice, as well as a couple of mounts/minions themed around the content.
Thanks for this new content, FFXIV team :)