New Direction in Content

[Yurihyuga]

I know people don't like bringing Final Fantasy XI into this but you know in terms of end game content XI probably was one of the rare mmo's that did it right (to an extent) where they failed was the claim system so most of the hnm's etc on 72hr+ windows were claimed by which shell had the best bot, but looking past that.

Dynamis - Can be entered with up to 18 players (full alliance in XI - 3 parties of 6) it is an alternate dimension of the home towns where you fight plenty of mobs to get currency(relic related in XI) and AF2 gear.

Sky - Big open area where every mob is a danger - got to beat NM's in the area to get pop items to summon one of the 4 sky gods (Genbu, Byakko, Seiryu and Suzaku) When you defeat all 4 get a pop item to summon Kirin.

Sea - Pretty much Sky but whole new area new 4 bosses and when killing the 4th boss there is a chance absolute virtue would spawn.

Limbus - was designed to be like Dynamis but CoP themed(the expansion for Sea)

ZNM's - This was a new pop system which was excellent - you buy a 1st tier item kill a boss and it drops an item for the next tier to spawn another boss each tier getting harder till eventually you can spawn pandemonium warden which at the 75 cap was extremely hard to beat.

Now imagine all this content dropping the same ilvl gear - pretty much what XI did for years and years and it worked since gear was unique stat wise - like in every game some gear was trash and some gear was good hell for some situations going back for some 71-74 gear could be considered BIS since it can contain stats such as damage reduction. I think for BLM/RDM the staffs in the 50-60 range was BIS since there was a hidden ability giving more damage with the particular element staff.

[CyrilLucifer]

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I just wanted to make a small correction. Dynamis could be entered with up to 64 players.

ZNMs were kinda terrible, though. Good idea, but pops became more obnoxious than sea and sky after about the third time running them. This is a problem that persists today that you'll see if making a Mythic.

Nyzul Isle (75 more than the 99 one) and Salvage were amazingly designed events, though. XIV would benefit from something like Nyzul and it even fits well into the battle system.

[Yurihyuga]

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been years lol so imagined I would have made a mistake. Was just trying to get across that end game can be made to last - raising level caps/ilvl gear and making stuff obsolete eventually gets old, people are already starting to get bored come back for a bit and then go again. In the direction this game is going it will eventually fall flat on its face. I am pretty much on a break till 3.1, come on for the odd fc event etc.

To be honest 3.1 doesn't even sound all that exciting the exploration islands could be good but I can't say anything till I have tried it since I reckon its just going to be like hunts and that was a disaster and still is.

[Kailok]

been years lol so imagined I would have made a mistake. Was just trying to get across that end game can be made to last - raising level caps/ilvl gear and making stuff obsolete eventually gets old, people are already starting to get bored come back for a bit and then go again. In the direction this game is going it will eventually fall flat on its face. I am pretty much on a break till 3.1, come on for the odd fc event etc.

To be honest 3.1 doesn't even sound all that exciting the exploration islands could be good but I can't say anything till I have tried it since I reckon its just going to be like hunts and that was a disaster and still is.

That is basically how many of my FC feel currently. They WANT 3.1 to be exciting and to bring them back, but if the content doesn't keep them entertained for long they are basically saying they will unsub and check back in for 3.2. This is the core issue: SE needs to figure out how to prolong their content so that it doesn't lose its flair within a couple of months after release. They either need to release enough content to keep people busy until the next patch, or find a way to keep their content lasting for a long time (which is a much better solution down the road).