Mixing up the formula - Will Eureaka be the answer?

[Altena]

This is more of a pipe dream, as I know the chances of this happening are unlikely.. However as someone who has played the game since 1.0, the current formula is getting a little tired.

This game is all well and good for newbies who are just starting to get into it now, however I am sure there are many vets out there like me that enjoy the game for the most part - but are getting a little burnt out. This weekly tome / weekly raid lockout formula is getting a little tired, and I really feel as though it needs to be mixed up a little bit. The formula was fine in ARR, however I expected HW to change it somewhat which it didn't, and now coming into SB I can see that they are sticking by it. I can understand why, I mean why fix something that is working, right? But there are only so many weeks of capping tomes and doing 1 raid clear for the week that people can handle.

For such a loyal fanbase (being a Final Fantasy title), you would think that the formula would be designed more on the long term and evolve, rather then the current rewash with a different skin.

I was a raider throughout ARR, and raided a decent amount in HW, however have dropped down to very casual play during SB and I am just clearing the easier raids in SB through PF. I have been enjoying the game very casually by running raids in PF, and doing the casual stuff in the game, but I can imagine myself not sticking around for too many more raid cycles unless stuff starts to change, which is sad because I have enjoyed my time, and would love to continue if I wasn't just getting bored of it all.

I am hoping Eureaka breaths a bit more life into the game (however I am not really holding my breath). I am also hoping it's more along the lines of Abyssea in XI. While I hate going back and highlighting that tired old game, there were some designs in there that could really work well for a modern MMO.

My thought process of how Abyssea-like content would work in this game for people that are unaware of what it's like -
It would be an open world zone with no lockout (could be instanced like Diadem). Your party kills monsters to get a pop item for a mini-boss (something of moderate difficulty). That boss drops [xxx] that you trade in for oils/coats/dips to upgrade your tome gear (or relic armor if that ever comes). It also drops 1 of 3 items that allows you to pop a mega-boss that is reasonably difficult (perhaps on an primal extreme level of difficulty). This boss drops alternate gear (horizontal progression), and also drops an item required to upgrade your relic weapon...

I honestly think an Abyssea-like system would be fantastic in this game, alongside the standard raid cycle. In fact I would very quickly give up the 24-man raids for this kind of repeatable content.

Now I am setting my expectation of Eureaka pretty low. I mean we got pretty hyped about the new/overhauled version of Diadem, to find out it was just changed to a zone full of Fates and a raid-like boss that pops once in a blue moon. Let's face it, Diadem was a pretty epic disaster and got boring extremely quick. I am hoping Eureaka will be a totally different story.

The most important thing for Eureaka to have is NO LOCKOUT or daily/weekly cap. Content has to be repeatable. Something that you can just band your friends / FC together and just go in whenever you want, with any number of people - and get stuff done. I understand SE's need to gate progression behind these lockouts, however they are possibly the most community damaging system they could use.

[Xatsh]

I am hoping for something good, I am expecting a new Diadem. I will be shocked if Eureka will be anything more then a casual thing used for catch up content with another way to get materia and a few mounts. I wish they would add a guild method of advancement endgame though would fix so many issues.

Diadem could of been great if they didn't make it a mindless zerg fate style content. Game needs large scale guild content which is actually meaningful. Diadem was not it.

And as much as I hated Abysea... that style content where you could take as many or as little ppl as you wanted and gear that was extremely easy to obtain like that would work in this game due to gears short life span... unlike the another game where it sorta killed the whole endgame scene.

[Jybril]

I hope so because almost everything SE brings out that's suppose to be "New and refreshing" is a bust lol.
Well, no "lol"...I actually want SE to really succeed in bringing something new to the table.
PoTD is just a catch up for DPS to level on, and a boring tiny area at that...
Diadem had potential but man...what happened there.

[Altena]

And as much as I hated Abysea... that style content where you could take as many or as little ppl as you wanted and gear that was extremely easy to obtain like that would work in this game due to gears short life span... unlike the another game where it sorta killed the whole endgame scene.

I have made this comment before - I don't think Abyssea was actually "bad" content, I just don't think it fit the XI model very well.
This game though? I think it would fit it exceptionally well.

Adding mild horizontal progression where there currently is none.
Introducing content that allows you to solo, or to go in with a full alliance and still get stuff done.
Content that isn't locked on some timer of "do once a week/day and be done with it".

Finally, adding back a sense of community into this game. This game is stuck in this whole "very large lobby with a bunch of instanced fights"..
Half the time people won't even say "hello" when you enter a dungeon anymore.
Give us some mass-scale stuff (like what Diadem should have been).

[Snow_Princess]

tired of all the daily and weeklies, need something new

[Lunafreya]

I'm thinking Eureka will suck and be a gigantic waste of time.

[Laerune]

I want it to be the new fresh thing that everyone is looking for, but I fear its going to flop like Diadem 1.0, 2.0 and Lords of Verminnion.

[Zeonsilt]

I, honestly, don't believe that Eureka will be something "entirely different" to the current formula.
Can already predict a series of quests and another 1000 FATEs grinding in that specific location, maybe with some new HUNTs.

[Brannigan]

I doubt it will even live up to 2.1's Primal Focus quest. SE's devs apparently can't figure out how to make cool side content - to be fair, a lot of that has to do with how bland/restrictive their gear system is. With only 10 ilvls between welfare tomestone gear and raid stuff, there's not a whole lot of room to add mid-level gear. If you can't put decent rewards in something, it takes the wind out of its sails before it even gets going and makes its flaws stand out even more.

[Kikoten]

The Forbidden Land of Eureka--I wonder what makes it forbidden. Is it going to be a side-story? Is it gonna be a callback to the Eureka in whatever FF game it was in previously? Is it going to be a free-for-all PvP zone where anyone can PK anyone? Is it going to be a new PvP map? Is it going to be another Diadem? Is it going to be a "deep dungeon" like Palace of the Dead? Is it going to introduce a new race? New job? Is it going to show us the secrets and past lives of our favorite NPC comrades? All this and more will probably not be the case, and it'll end up being something totally different than what's listed here.