A mid-core content for mid-core players.

[Vieilocean]

Okay so since i should be studying, I might as well work out my idea I posted on the first page, see post #4: "What about a defend the castle-themed instance? Not an entire zone, and not the usual 'go there, kill everything, go deeper, kill everything' but something like defend This city or castle, where there are up to 10 paths with different bosses and interiors (ranging from a dungeon to alleys to inside the main keep) with their own rewards, but where killing certain mobs or talking to a certain npc triggers a certain path?"

Okay so this is based on a few things, like the 'defend Minas Tirith' level in the RotK game, Rift's Hammerknell raid, GW2's dungeon path system and my experiences in FF14 so far.
As of writing this, I have NOT played beyond lvl 54 yet.

The underlying idea it's pretty interesting. Nothing to add here.

So the setting would be a castle. Here it could be any Ishgardian castle. For now, the idea is 8, maybe 10 players. You start on the walls with the usual thrash, which will be called Map 1, and as you fail or succeed, you're forced to retreat to different places/having repelled the thrash assault go on to another place thats under siege, respectively map 2.1 and 2.2 from now. From 2.1 and 2.2 you'll be able to choose different paths, with different bosses and different mechanics, and maybe different loot, or just dropping a token which you can redeem for gear of your choice (Maybe redeemable tokens in NM, and real gear in HM). Possibly you can make 4 levels of gear, with 1. Loot from bosses from map 2.1 NM, 2. loot from bosses map 2.2 NM, 3. loot from weakest bosses map 2.1 HM and 4. loot from bosses map 2.2 HM.
The different bosses will require certain classes, for a certain point. An example would be running from a boulder that'll crush you, where you need the Bard's speed buff, cause you're TP is constantly drained due to a debuff. This is NOT gambling, when entering a dungeon with a certain party, as small hints will be shown, that give the party an idea what class is needed for that path (a picture of a music note implying bard songs next to an entrance).
The dungeon itself would be mediocre hard, it gives a challenge, and yes you might wipe, but its still easier than the hardest hardcore content, because lets be honest, even a dungeon with this replayability isn't fun when you clear all paths in 2-3 weeks. REMEMBER: this instance is less about dodging circles, beams or clearing dps checks, and more about a fun and innovative way to make certain classes needed in certain dungeons.

1- A content of 8 players is more then enough. Too many people will be difficult to find.
2- What kind of gear? If it has a level-progression's rewards, the mid-core content idea it's totally killed.
3- The idea behind a content based on mechanics that requires specific jobs it's risky. Devs must create mechanics (paths) with equal difficulty, otherwise people will choose always the easier one. Also, mechanics imply coordination within the party, so the content requires more overall balancing cause you can risk to create another hard-core raid (Alexander) if the mechanics are too severe or another mindless dungeon if they're too easy. As I said it's surely risky, but not impossible.