Would Horizontal Progression Help this Game?

[Cilia]

It doesn't matter if you require horizontal progression; with websites built exclusively to determine the fastest and most efficient path to completing the endgame, that's all people will follow anymore. The devs seem to be quite aware of this and, with development costs much higher than they were during, say, XI's heyday, they simply can't afford to put in things most people are going to ignore.

The story stuff is very fun and interesting to me, and I do earnestly wish there was more of it. But as for endgame progression, it's just simpler to reduce it to what people can easily understand instead of requiring arcane horizontal progression (that will be deciphered and pulled apart into the most efficient method of progression as soon as it's available to the public).

[Nalien]

The devs seem to be quite aware of this and, with development costs much higher than they were during, say, XI's heyday, they simply can't afford to put in things most people are going to ignore.

Funny, they've implemented quite a lot of stuff most people ignore... Gold Saucer, Crystal Tower, heck they have to build Relics entirely around the concept of getting people back into old content...

The thing with horizontal progression is, it doesn't matter that there is an "optimal" set. What matters is that people will want to obtain it. It gives content a longer shelf life as a result.

Doesn't even need to be about stats. The issue they have with horizontal progression is it "prevents" new players catching up. They're afraid new players will see horizontal progression and be turned off, because they can't get to that point within a week. That's why every other update wiped the slate clean. That's why they can't, for example, go "You want this antiquated Iga Ningi? That'll be 825 tomestones and a Fuma Koromo".

The reality is, we have a shallow game as a result. How can you create depth when the board is reset on every even digit update? You can't. Oddly enough, the only thing in this game that has come close is Relics, without a doubt the most popular quests, regardless of how much people complain about it (I guarantee more are interested in doing their Anima weapon than Alexander (Savage)). Progress on them is still seemingly reset with each expansion, but it is quite telling that, for a year or two, the most popular content is one in which a new player is at a fairly huge disadvantage at compared to existing ones... People obviously want this kind of content, yet this is the closest we get to it... The effort they put into Lords of Verminion, or Alexander, that's the kind of effort they should be putting into Relics, or failing that, Relics is the kind of equipment they should be putting into Alexander (though lord knows I don't want Gordian equipment sticking around to 3.5...).