Fan Fest announcements will determine my future in this game..

[Kaurie]

Im new to the game , only been playing a few months , but Im just curious of what other games are out there that get regular updates and steady content as much as this one , Ive only played a few mmos, but im just curious when i hear people say this game is stagnant, what other types of games are mmos are comparable , but like I said Im new so I havent played it for years and but just from research I havent seen any other games that do as many other steady updates on a regular basis

It's varied strategy. WoW, for example, puts out fewer patches, but a lot more content within each patch and expansion. Guild Wars 2, for another example, puts out more frequent patches, but they're much smaller in what they deliver. FFXIV lies in between. All 3 of them, in the end, have comparable amount of content with slightly more content on whatever they focus on.

One issue with more frequent patches is that the new patch will often make all content from the previous patch outdated. It's a hard balance to hit, providing a steady stream of content, without invalidating perfectly fine content.

• Revamped Itemization - New ways to acquire gear, and new unique stats on gear. I would also personally like to see a little shift away from the currency system of acquiring gear. Its predictable and uninspiring. Gearing up just feels like a chore zapped of any excitement. Never is there a rush of excitement at acquiring anything because you can plot and plan every piece of gear weeks in advance. We all wear the same basic gear. Its literally 1 or 2 sets of gear for each job at 60, and each set has the same handful of stats with varying different numerical values.
• Overworld Content - This is one of the biggest things we need to see. Ive played this game for years but have spent probably just a handful of hours in several of the zones. There is rarely a reason to traverse the overworld. Give me good reason to be in the actual zones. FFXIV has the weakest zone content Ive seen in any MMO in 15 years. The zones feel empty and lifeless and just waiting for content to be put into them.
• New Types of Content - Deep Dungeon was a good addition, but we need more unique types of content - and make it relevant. Diadem was a good addition as well but it died after 1 patch cycle and has not been supported since. I loved the RNG Diablo'esq drops. Its some of the most fun I had in the game in a while and was really hoping to see diadem expanded upon.
• Shift away from fluff content - This has been a big pet peeve of mine as the game is seemingly being over run with meaningless fluff content like glamour, minions, mounts, and fate grinds. I realize some people like to "collect" these things but it feels like this is one of the biggest driving forces in the game right now. Most days I check these forums the entire front page of topics is related to some fluff topic. Playing dress up or collecting minions simply does not motivate me in the least. I will not grind for hours and hours just to get some in game outfit. The game feels overly watered down and Id like to see a shift to more meaty content.
• When new content is put in, go ALL IN! When you put in new content like verminion and triple triad, they should have been in the duty finder from day one. Both of these content items are a good example of flops, which sounded exciting at first learning but turned out to be largely panned by the community. I feel its because of how restrictive or inaccessible they make content sometimes. Dueling is another, more recent, example. WHY is dueling relegated to one small area in the wolfs den? Open it up world wide. Let me duel in Uldah or at my guild house yard. I feel like SE's overall approach to content sometimes is really rigid and limiting in this way.

I agree with most of what you said. I have other gripes that bother me more (except Itemization, clearly an issue), personally, but I suppose we all do. A few examples of things I want to see, that you did not mention, are:

• Talent System
• Add on support
• New secondary stats with the removal of current ones (particularly accuracy and parry)
• Hi-Res Textures

I don't have such an ultimatum though. I am already disappointed with the game, and would have unsubbed for WoW awhile ago. I haven't, because my friends play here and I know no-one in WoW. It sucks playing an MMO without friends, so I'm stuck here until you piss off my friends enough for them to unsub.