3.x series needs a variety of endgame content.

[Nalien]

Chocobo Hot&Cold from FF9 make it happen SE!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQLzmrJ30p4

PS: More content that involves your companion is always welcome imo.

This would be nice... Perhaps have it so when you've summoned your Chocobo Companion, you can "Dig" while riding it, similar to Chocobo Digging in Final Fantasy XI. Just throw in the odd chance to find a Treasure Chest (perhaps have the Digging animation/noise act as a Hot/Cold hint to follow towards a Chest) for an allowance-less Treasure Map style encounter, with reduced rewards to balance it out. Enough Tomestones to make it rewarding enough (but not so rewarding that it can replace dungeons/etc., this is still a MMO, not a solo adventure), but nothing like the crafting materials and minions that give current Treasure Maps their 18 hour allowance, maybe throw in a Chocograph if you're lucky... Though what Chocographs could result in I'm not sure... Either something like the Unhidden Maps we currently get, or perhaps something new entirely... I'd quite like the idea of Chocographs granting you access to special instances, for a Chocobo Dungeon style mini-event; More Tomestones, but a lot of Companion EXP thrown in as well.

You'd basically summon your Companion, ride around farming Fine Sand (not since Culinarian Desynthesis have we had such a Fine Sand boon!), happen upon a Treasure Chest, dismount and fight the mobs, get some Tomestones/Companion EXP for it. Remount and continue digging for Fine Sand (stuff like Duskborne Aethersand would be nice too) until you finally get a Chocograph, then you go to the location and enter a fun little instance.

[Magis]

Lazy it may be, but what it does do is allow everyone to see the story (which is the reason NM Alexander exists at all).

Personally, I find that's why a lot of people just aren't motivated to do savage (including me and some people in my static) is because of this thinking. The incentive to do the hard content isn't there: Story has been already given, gear is the same look as normal just with an particle effect, the gear itself is useless since the next cycle will destroy it all anyway. There should be a reward to push people through the content, otherwise it just exists for the sake of existing which is pointless. I love the lore and that kept pushing me through every turn of Coil. With Alex? Eh, there is no point.

Maybe airships will bring something to the table /shrug.

[ChiefCurrahee]

I always saw them as end game, or a stepping stone to higher stuff.

How can ex-primals be end game and a stepping stone at the same time? What are you stepping to? Post end game?

If ex-primals were similar difficulty to current top tier battles (Alex savage) and offered rewards on par (same iLvl) then yes ex-primals would be endgame.

Right now Bismark doles out a i180 weapon, Ravana a i190 which were both trumped the moment they introduced esoteric i200 weapons.

The primals don't gate you out of progressive content, their rewards are subpar and gear progression is circumvented through other means. So again what's the point of doing ex-primals for any reason other then glamor, or being a completionist?

[Nalien]

Personally, I find that's why a lot of people just aren't motivated to do savage (including me and some people in my static) is because of this thinking. The incentive to do the hard content isn't there: Story has been already given, gear is the same look as normal just with an particle effect, the gear itself is useless since the next cycle will destroy it all anyway.

That's definitely my reasoning... The story for Alexander is just weaker in general, too... Coil had a story which was there from the moment you started the game. I had characters that you met/heard about very early on. I was far more interested in knowing what exactly happened with Bahamut, from the moment I watched the bleedin' trailer back when 1.0 just stopped and 2.0 was still in the works... I was far more interested to clear ADS, then catch a glimpse of Louisoix. To clear Twintania, and see Louisoix and Darnus. Overall the plot was just far more gripping, and it was something I actually had to work for...

Alexander? Pops up at the end of the main scenario. Just another "We have to stop teh primal!" plot. Mide and all the Goblins are completely new characters except Cid and co, who just have side roles. I just don't care about the plot anywhere near as much... Add to that the fact that the plot is just handed to me, and Alexander just comes off worse than Coil in every way, even mechanically, just compare Faust to ADS, ADS actually had a mechanic with High Voltage... Faust was the single worst introduction to a raid ever; "Here's a cheap DPS check!". You know what else the story mode ruined? The real version. I'm not the only person who went through Alexander going "I bet they change this for Savage", am I? I cannot be the only person who correctly predicted every single change made in A1S, making it far easier as a result (and I can't be the only person who stopped and went "Why is this T1 with missiles?", so much for new raid...). Even if I didn't, the fact that I'd already cleared an easier version is going to make the Savage version slightly easier anyway...

I know they couldn't have done this, since Heavensward had no real endgame content, but I wish the story mode came after the real thing... I actually think it would have been really nice if Savage was the proper thing, and the story mode was the Minstrels Ballad that lets everyone go through and experience the story. Wouldn't it have been more interesting if both were there from launch, but the story mode had to be unlocked? So when your server first clears Savage, the Wandering Minstrel then provides a quest for everyone on the server to get the story mode, perhaps even throw in some recognition for server first by having the Minstrel mention the group that cleared it. Everyone still then eventually gets the story mode (and seriously, wasn't old Coil nerfed for that exact purpose? Why is it now that the nerfed version comes first?), it's actually somewhat tied to your servers community (which is always a good thing, IMO), which gives a bit more motivation to try and clear it first (I'll never get a world first, but trying for server first... still wouldn't be possible... it's more possible though...) and it means that there is no practice for the real thing, since you wouldn't have to clear the story version (and thus figure out all the mechanics) to unlock the real one.