More Horizontal Progression please

[Evtrai]

That depends on why they think it failed, if failed is even the correct word to use.

That's a good write up, sure, I'll admit, FFXI had a lot of range, FFXIV had a LOT of range, I was so incredibly unlucky with drops that I cleared two coils cycles, and while we farmed the subsequent weeks, I NEVER got to see what I wanted, I never got the Monk weapons EVER before the next raid dropped, Heavensward did improve on something, adding these tokens from Alex Savage, and actual good improvements, very good for them.

But you automatically dismiss all those events you listed in a sense that FFXIV should regress and not improve over those examples you listed, sure Kings where the true hardcore content as only super dedicated players did it, it doesn't mean that if they go back to Dynamis, they are gonna have the same Range, range is range, you could get all the drops you wanted on one night in dynamis, or you wouldn't at all, that's luck, but it absolutely doesn't mean the content was bad or was boring.

[Ibi]

it absolutely doesn't mean the content was bad or was boring.

Agreed, most of it wasn't bad or boring, especially at first. Though I don't think I could have done two years of Dynamis twice a week if I hadn't had the responsibility of pulling to keep me engaged.

The issue is that for something to stay relevant for a long time, it has to remain rewarding for a long time, and the way SE generally did that in FFXI was to have very low drop rates. There also wasn't all that much variability to the events. Dynamis - Xarcabard the first time was exciting and tense and dangerous. Dynamis - Xarcabard the twentieth time was exactly the same, minus all the excitement, tension, and danger, because you know exactly what to expect from every pull.

It was something they got better with over time, certainly. Each Salvage area had multiple different routes you could take, to engage different enemies and try for different rewards. Nyzul Isle was semi-randomly generated, and no two runs went quite the same.

I'm all for horizontal progression in theory, but:

1. The content needs to be repeatable, without being overly repetitive.
2. The content needs to remain rewarding, without the rewards being too infrequent.
3. The rewards need to be compelling but, because this is horizontal progression, not too significant.

The last point is particularly difficult, especially in an environment like FFXIV's where you can only use a single piece of gear in a particular slot for a particular encounter. How do you ensure that the idea that's better for one encounter isn't universally the best, without getting into uninteresting stats like elemental damage/resists?