I guess it's time

[Braden]

snip

You shouldn't question my reading ability when you still can't answer a direct question.

If you're beating an entire patch of content immediately after its released. Thats instant gratification, similar to tomes are participation trophies. The means to have it right now. People give more value to things you earn, rather than just given. Its a very simple concept. Much like the jobs are a shell of what they could be. XI is the example of job flexibility. This game only has one stat and skill per job, very simple. XI blm for example had int, mab, enfeebling, dark, elemental, pdt, mdb, mnd etc. To be effective in XI you had to have multiple gear sets to be most efficient. Thats job depth. One skill may have a str modifier, while another may have dex, in the same job.

Aquapolis is one thing, compared to 15+ pieces of content XI had in the same shelf life. Also aquapolis doesn't drop relevant gear from what I've seen.

The mechanics are all the same from what I have experienced. Move out of orange, hide behid object, run into blob etc. Adding player to player interaction might hinder your optimal rotation, but it would add something different.

2 ways to get similar gear, all duty finder/instanced, is not variety.