Naoki Yoshida interview @Gamescom

[Bourne_Endeavor]

More than anything, the pace of vertical progression is what diminishes the value of the content cycle. The feeling is basically "why should I put in so much effort to get this gear, when I'm just going to replace it in 3 months ?" and that feeling eventually will lead to "Why am I even playing this game ?" For some the answer is glamours and RP, and for others it is the competition that exists in the raid or PVP scene. This is why servers like balmung and gilgamesh are so full because that is where those communities are the most prevalent. People have gravitated towards those servers because people more and more are realizing that without a strong community, this game has very little substance.

First, six months not three. Nonetheless, how exactly would you change this? Horizontal progression is oft touted as the end all be all, but what would it accomplish to revolutionize the game? Okay, you upgrade gear in lieu of replacing it. What is actually different? Instead of acquiring a whole new set, you're just un-equipping your existing one, going to a NPC to upgrade it, then re-equipping the exact same armour you already had except now it's stronger. Both systems are essentially identical; only the route taken actually differs. We wouldn't be farming content for new gear, but token, gears or whatever. Basically, what we already do with Void Ark and Weeping City.

I never liked this kind of suggestion. It's not our job to suggest something different or come up with new ideas, that's the job of the professional game developers that make the game. It's perfectly valid to say the pattern of new tomestone -> two dungeons -> trial -> raid is repetitive and it's still the same model for character progression. I certainly don't know what they could do to change it, but I do feel the same pattern of content release gets rather dull.

Because complaints without suggestions are pointless. How can you expect anyone-- developers or otherwise -- to give you what you want, if you don't tell them? I want to see more dungeons designed like Weeping City; perhaps even a savage version. If I only say "this game is too easy!" The devs aren't going to necessarily change the difficulty in a way I actually want since I didn't specify.