7.0 speculation, but not about the story

So far, basically every discussion online about 7.0 has been about the story. Understandable, of course, but this game is much more than that.

I would like to have a conversation about other aspects of the game, such as the overall structure and gameplay loop. Because, just like with the story, 7.0 will be a great opportunity to innovate in these aspects.

Personally, I don't have a clue about what I would do if I were a dev. I just feel like the game needs to significantly shake the formula. It's been great so far, Shadowbringers and Endwalker were amazing, but we can't expect that formula to work forever and I'd hate to leave the game for lack of innovation.

Do you have any ideas?

Open world PvP will shake things up I think. Either limit it to 7.0 areas or have it be part of the Eureka/Bozja-like content.

I don't know what to expect with the Island Sanctuary, and I don't think anyone else does either.

But based on what I've heard and read about it, I honestly believe that whatever it is, we're going to see a lot more of it in the future.

Hell, there's a whole un-touched-upon "New World" to the west of Aldenard, it sounds like a perfect sandbox for that type of content...

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Originally Posted by myahele

Open world PvP will shake things up I think. Either limit it to 7.0 areas or have it be part of the Eureka/Bozja-like content.

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Lets hope they will not do that, i dont want to run around in a potential MSQ zone fearing i may be randomly attacked by another player

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Originally Posted by Ifrinne

Lets hope they will not do that, i dont want to run around in a potential MSQ zone fearing i may be randomly attacked by another player

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unlike blizz, square has no intentions of killing their MMO

Prediction: It's going to be another carrot-on-a-stick kind of expansion.

I’m still reeling over the freedom Endwalker has given us to do anything and go anywhere. I’m actually paralyzed by choice.

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Originally Posted by myahele

Open world PvP will shake things up I think.

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There is very little interest in PvP and even PvP MMOs. New World tried to be open world hardcore PvP MMO and during alpha/beta people just clearly told they don't want an open world PvP game so they made it really optional and opt-in. WoW Classic open world PvP quickly degraded and both it and retail quickly saw monofaction PvP realms... You can have a free for all coliseum type places or more variety of PvP instances but open world PvP is just asking for problems.

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Originally Posted by Thalesnm

I would like to have a conversation about other aspects of the game, such as the overall structure and gameplay loop. Because, just like with the story, 7.0 will be a great opportunity to innovate in these aspects.

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If you are telling a story then I doubt it will try to reinvent the wheel. Either way they did hinted all over the place that after closing the story ark they will be preparing the game for the next one as well as doing some cleaning/changes of what's already there so that is a good window for innovation or just quality.

I would say they could think how to break the verticality of the game. If you want to join to play 7.0 that's from level 1 to 100 on your main job, DoH/DoL or alt jobs. But how do you break it down for a story driven game? 6.0 already highlighted word "Adventurer" quite hard, and they deescalated the power level of events super quickly (which they should anyway) so I could see they giving an option for new players to join but not level through MSQ but through like a side story developed either as a part of 6.X or 7.0 patch. So you aren't WoL, you are just an adventurer that wants to make a name for yourself (with original MSQ still available - either for the story on main job or to use it for alt jobs)... but DoH/DoL would be a problem (or just buffed ishgard :D)

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Originally Posted by sharknado

If you are telling a story then I doubt it will try to reinvent the wheel. Either way they did hinted all over the place that after closing the story ark they will be preparing the game for the next one as well as doing some cleaning/changes of what's already there so that is a good window for innovation or just quality.

I would say they could think how to break the verticality of the game. If you want to join to play 7.0 that's from level 1 to 100 on your main job, DoH/DoL or alt jobs. But how do you break it down for a story driven game? 6.0 already highlighted word "Adventurer" quite hard, and they deescalated the power level of events super quickly (which they should anyway) so I could see they giving an option for new players to join but not level through MSQ but through like a side story developed either as a part of 6.X or 7.0 patch. So you aren't WoL, you are just an adventurer that wants to make a name for yourself (with original MSQ still available - either for the story on main job or to use it for alt jobs)... but DoH/DoL would be a problem (or just buffed ishgard :D)

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Yeah, I definitely agree that the new player experience should be a top priority for 7.0. I'm not too worried about this, though, because the new player experience (right now) is such an obvious issue. And these devs aren't dumb, I'm sure they know that 7.0 will be a great opportunity to fix that. Whether they will be able to do so remains to be seen, but being aware of the issue is half the battle.

- Better balance around cinematic and actual gameplay during MSQ (not saying less cinematics).

- A less formulaic MSQ in terms of: we unlock dungeon, we unlock another, now a trial, then three dungeons, another trial followed by the last dungeon with another trial right away.

- Better and more varied questing.

- More involve an interesting reputations.

- More interesting open world activities.

- More stuff to do at max level during the early stages of an expansion (not talking about more dungeons/raids/trials. Just stuff we can do without being synced down).

- More long term, but still fun to do, grinds for cosmetics/mounts/pets or something 100% new.

- Perhaps make loot more interesting so our gear had the potential to change the way we play a class. (Not so sure about this one has pros and cons after all).

They need LESS shaking things up the formula, not more.
Every time they radically depart from the formula, the results range from "absurdly horrible and dropped for all future expansions" to "stuff that's more-or-less okay, but not as well liked as the main content."
They've yet to outdo the core dungeons/trials/raids/24-man/Extreme/Savage stuff, and I don't think they should even try.

... which is WHY people more speculate on where the story's going, what the new jobs will be, etc.

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Originally Posted by Thalesnm

So far, basically every discussion online about 7.0 has been about the story. Understandable, of course, but this game is much more than that.

I would like to have a conversation about other aspects of the game, such as the overall structure and gameplay loop. Because, just like with the story, 7.0 will be a great opportunity to innovate in these aspects.

Personally, I don't have a clue about what I would do if I were a dev. I just feel like the game needs to significantly shake the formula. It's been great so far, Shadowbringers and Endwalker were amazing, but we can't expect that formula to work forever and I'd hate to leave the game for lack of innovation.

Do you have any ideas?

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One new Job, level capped at 99, item level cuts off at a certain number, all progression becomes vertical at that point. Everything added post 7.0 is some kind of iterative long form adventure style grind content.

Announcement of a new MMO and the end of FFXIV.

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Originally Posted by Jennah

I don't think they should even try.

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This is an awful thing to say.

So long as they keep getting more sub numbers than they can handle, I don't think they'll deviate much from the core formula.

Maybe some tweaks to it though, I could see them making lock-outs role based. We have a lot more jobs now than we did back in ARR, when the foundations of the current formula were put in place.

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Originally Posted by Floortank

One new Job, level capped at 99, item level cuts off at a certain number, all progression becomes vertical at that point. Everything added post 7.0 is some kind of iterative long form adventure style grind content.

Announcement of a new MMO and the end of FFXIV.

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Sure, they might be working on a new MMO but I don't think they will announce it yet. They only discussed the possibility of working on a new FF MMO once 6.0 launches. It takes about 5 years to develop an MMORPG so if there's anything about this, we might hear about it in 2025 - 2027. Good developers don't just appear from the heavens, they are in high demand and hard to come by especially in Japan. I don't think their formula will change, has it changed for FF11? I know there's Eureka, PotD and other content like it in FF14 which specifically addresses re-leveling and alternate skills/spells system or have its own limitation including limited jobs which we're probably going to see more of. This is a Japanese MMORPG, we will hit level 100 and we will become stronger just as we have been doing. They can't change their formula but they can add side content like Eureka to change things up a little.

I wouldn't be opposed to an Open-Zone PvP experience if they did it like Cyrodiil in the original ESO. Open PvP in the overworld is a big NO NO.

PvP in PvP Venus only, no open world PvP.

I play this game to relax, not worry that there is a Ninja somewhere who is about to kill me.

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Originally Posted by myahele

Open world PvP will shake things up I think. Either limit it to 7.0 areas or have it be part of the Eureka/Bozja-like content.

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That would get me to leave. BIG NOPE.

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Originally Posted by Thalesnm

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Do you have any ideas?

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Well, I for one would love for them to get past the limitations of Playstsation, and have the world areas more open, and have fewer instances esp in older zones ie ARR/HW content. I would enjoy being able to fly much higher, so the fog and clouds are below us. I see a few hints that they are considering some changes like this in the future as in the Endwalker zone that has an area inside a building which forces your mount to not fly.

Basically a "Cataclysm" level zone improvement for the older content.

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Originally Posted by Floortank

One new Job, level capped at 99, item level cuts off at a certain number, all progression becomes vertical at that point. Everything added post 7.0 is some kind of iterative long form adventure style grind content.

Announcement of a new MMO and the end of FFXIV.

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No, absolutely not. FFXI is still going strong after 22 years, no need to "End" a thing. Now having a new MMO, maybe in then years. But they don't need to rush it.

'Relic' weapon series available at expansion launch. (X.05)
Can be upgraded to the highest item level immediately through savage raid, or catch up in later patch through other means. Replaces the direct drop weapons from the raids.

Deep dungeon or similar leveling content at launch (X.0), fewer normal dungeons are produced to balance resources.

Extreme trials drop armor sets themed around the boss for a change, not weapons or accessories. Still interesting for glam reasons after the item level is no longer current.

Field zones now added in patch series (X.1, X.2, etc) one per major patch so that the story continues to move through previously unseen areas. To balance resources, the normal dungeons introduced in patches take place inside the new field zones, just section off a slice of the zone to use for the instance.

100 is the final level cap, after which we progress our character through other means such as collecting primal power, void power or auracite shards.

Have standalone raids and alliance raids. Doesn't always need to be a 3-part series that takes 2 years to conclude.

Incorporate crafting and gathering jobs inside dungeons, trials and raids. Something akin to FFXI assaults.

Example: Gathering certain items to craft a weapon, defeating a boss with said weapon.

Using gatherers to get through objects: (Copperbell Mines rock formations. Saint Mociannes beehives.)

Using crafters to create transportation through dungeons, creating barriers and weapons etc.

Possibilities and combinations would be entertaining to explore.

PvP, lots of it. Expanded savage tiers, expanded ex trials, expanded and multi-level difficultly 24 mans. Making the jobs interesting to play again. Tanking is boring atm, same with most healers.

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Originally Posted by Ath192

This is an awful thing to say.

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Sad part is she's not really wrong. SE kinda need things to fall into a certain pattern to balance jobs and design content.

More than anything I really want them to utilize the open world a lot more, I want to have reasons to explore the world and I want there to be interesting places to go see, and activities to do in the open world that remain relevant beyond the leveling path, FATE's aren't enough. Once you level and gear up the game can start to feel very much like a lobby PVE game and I think the game would benefit a great deal from breaking that up.

I don't have anything I feel is lacking from FFXIV. There are quality-of-life features that would be nice to have, but overall, the way the game works right now works for me, so I'm actually semi-dreading this February announcement that could reveal a drastic change to the game.

In other words, I think I'll just leave it up to the devs and decide whether future changes are good or bad for me when they're released.

Other than that, it'd be nice if FFXIV were to be available on the Xbox platform.

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Originally Posted by Rufalus

'Relic' weapon series available at expansion launch. (X.05)
Can be upgraded to the highest item level immediately through savage raid, or catch up in later patch through other means. Replaces the direct drop weapons from the raids.

Deep dungeon or similar leveling content at launch (X.0), fewer normal dungeons are produced to balance resources.

Extreme trials drop armor sets themed around the boss for a change, not weapons or accessories. Still interesting for glam reasons after the item level is no longer current.

Field zones now added in patch series (X.1, X.2, etc) one per major patch so that the story continues to move through previously unseen areas. To balance resources, the normal dungeons introduced in patches take place inside the new field zones, just section off a slice of the zone to use for the instance.

100 is the final level cap, after which we progress our character through other means such as collecting primal power, void power or auracite shards.

Have standalone raids and alliance raids. Doesn't always need to be a 3-part series that takes 2 years to conclude.

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1. while I'm not opposed to them introducing relic weapons earlier, having savage raiders upgrade it to highest tier immediately would make them way too overpowered, also relics are supposed to be a separate progressions system from savage raids.

2.this would be too much for them to introduce at launch I think, most of their effort is going into the MSQ, they don't have time to add a deep dungeon on top of that.

3.okay this wouldn't be a bad idea,

4.This could be doable, just have it make sense in the story.

5. They would have to be very careful about how they do this. if they don't do it right they would end up giving an unfair advantage to people who are subscribed constantly.

6.I prefer the raid series to be honest, let's them have more complex stories and I'm not really all that invested if the whole story is done in a hour.

Nothing is going to change.

X number of dungeons.
12 raids with 12 savages.
3 alliance raids
Some form of relic grind
And two tomstones to spend on gear with one being capped.

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Originally Posted by Gothicshark

Well, I for one would love for them to get past the limitations of Playstsation, and have the world areas more open, and have fewer instances esp in older zones ie ARR/HW content. I would enjoy being able to fly much higher, so the fog and clouds are below us. I see a few hints that they are considering some changes like this in the future as in the Endwalker zone that has an area inside a building which forces your mount to not fly.

Basically a "Cataclysm" level zone improvement for the older content.

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While I agree that the PS4 is barely running the game, I'd argue that i's a fair trade. Because being on console makes the game MUCH more accessible and the importance of that can't be overstated. We have no data to know exactly how many people play on console, but it's a lot. Specially because there's basically no competition when it comes to MMOs on consoles. I speak from experience: I'd never have played this game if it wasn't on console and I play on console to this day (now on PS5).

Another thing: even PC-exclusive MMOs have to run on a much wider range of hardware than other kinds of games. And I can guarantee you: even if they drop support for PS4 and PS5, the game would still have to run on PS4 and PS5-equivalent hardware.

I predict there will be a main scenario quest with 7 dungeons and 3 trials. The dungeons will be structured like narrow hallways with a few slightly less narrow areas with 2 pulls of monsters between walls. The monsters will be nothing special, except for one of them in the final MSQ dungeon which will require more careful avoiding their AoEs.
The MSQ will consist mostly of moving from one spot in a map to the next to read dialogue and watch cutscenes. Most cutscenes will not be voiced, and at least 1/3 will not add much to the plot of the expansion.
There will be some kind of new cute NPC race that will halt the main cast's progress in the story for about 15 or 20 quests due selfishness/playfulness/stupidity. The MSQ will introduce some new gimmick or minigame style duty that will either be hated immediately or overstay its welcome before the end of 7.0.
The final trial will have its second phase be essentially a spectacle that is hard to fail because the devs will keep looking at Shinryu's design as something bad.
The new maps will be mostly barren and not have a lot of points of interest outside their hamlet equivalents.
A few tracks composed by Soken or Uematsu from 1.0 will be buried out of the grave to be repurposed somewhere completely out of context so fewer new tracks need to be produced.
There will be a lot of new equipment that will be color swaps of gear from previous expansions.
Healers will get bored. AST will join their siblings in boredom as a job redesign to simplify it will strip it away from playing fun.
Tanks will stay essentially the same. But DRK will be buffed more than others.
A few more DPS will have their utility actions removed so they can focus on going BRRRR with pure damage. Two new DPS will be added and they will have utility or action effects that were removed from older jobs from 1 or 2 expansions ago so they can be seen as "fresh" by the community.
The soundtrack used in majority of the maps, cutscenes and both hub towns will be made of no more than 2 leit motifs that are barely rearranged with more than different instrumentation. All dungeon themes will be remixes of the overworld map theme they're located in.
You will have to attune to aether currents located very close to where the MSQ wants you to go in order to unlock flying in a zone.
There will barely be any buildings or structures with functional doors you can enter outside the first hub town.
There will be 2 optional dungeons in the entire lifespan of the expansion. They may add 2 more tied to a large-scale-instance tied to new relic weapons. People will complain about it then other people will be like "do you want the devs to suffer??".
There will be an 8-player normal raid split into 3 series of 4 trials, and those will all have a savage difficulty.
There will be 3 alliance raid duties designed to let players who don't pull their weight to be carried by those who do.
There will be exactly 3 NPC tribes to do daily quests for.
There might be an Ultimate raid.

I really want to see a better open world, with areas that remain relevant outside of an expansion and are more fun to explore. With more engaging side quests and content that doesn’t only rely on farming things.

We just got 6.0 released and there is at least 2 years till 7.0 but there are already speculations lol

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Originally Posted by ReynTime

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This tickled me. I mean this is what to expect, and what we absolutely will be getting. But I’m not mad at it, just part of the norm.

Personally, I would really like something done to the character creator. Little upgrade.

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Originally Posted by Thalesnm

So far, basically every discussion online about 7.0 has been about the story. Understandable, of course, but this game is much more than that.

I would like to have a conversation about other aspects of the game, such as the overall structure and gameplay loop. Because, just like with the story, 7.0 will be a great opportunity to innovate in these aspects.

Personally, I don't have a clue about what I would do if I were a dev. I just feel like the game needs to significantly shake the formula. It's been great so far, Shadowbringers and Endwalker were amazing, but we can't expect that formula to work forever and I'd hate to leave the game for lack of innovation.

Do you have any ideas?

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Consolidate all jobs into 3-4 skills, no greater than 5 total. Every rotation becomes 1-2-3 and you now have the ability to turn your character into a trust char when in DF so you can afk in dungeon runs. When queuing as healer, your character automatically becomes a trust so you don't have to play it.

All crafting jobs are now automatically max level and your retainer has infinite materials for you to craft so you dont have to be pressured our of or excluded from the market.

Savage and ultimate are now base trial difficulty but just last longer, so everyone can experience the content.