Horizontal progression? In MY theme park?!

[SendohJin]

I echo some of the posts in this thread and have to wonder exactly why anyone would want horizontal progression in this game.

it keeps old content relevant and that makes people feel like there's more to do. i don't particularly care for it but usually it does do that.

[Shurrikhan]

Serious Talk:

Fundamentally, I like the idea of somewhat horizontal progression. It makes the world feel a bit more fleshed out, if within reason. But let's not pretend that it doesn't have fundamental drawbacks.

I like that I could have some portion of the game I care about more than other portions, and most of my gearing will therefore be aimed at that, while I may fall behind on others, so long as the gap isn't so significant that I'm unable to progress seriously in a given sector of content . Or, alternatively, I kind of like that I may have to play different sorts of content in order to get the gear that most capitalizes upon my playstyle, so long as (1) my playstyle really is allowed for and (2) I still enjoy each of those pieces of content enough to be at least as happy for the variance as I would be if I were permitted to play only the content type I liked most, or there's still enough exchange between content types that I don't have to play the content types I don't care for.

But, that's essentially all horizontal progression is. It's exclusivity, by design. It might not be felt enough to generate divides in the playerbase in practice, but that really is what makes horizontal progression horizontal -- specialization. Vertical progression may end up devaluing the majority of its content because it has less impact on gearing, and thus contribution balance is essential in order not to waste resources, but so long as there's only one real progression series, at least it applies to everything, allowing you to swap between content types however you please. The pace at which one progresses is the only thing capable of splitting up a group of friends at all, not where they choose to spend that progress.

it keeps old content relevant and that makes people feel like there's more to do. i don't particularly care for it but usually it does do that.

It doesn't necessarily accomplish even that, though. The only way to make a given piece of content last longer is to make it particularly difficult or less rewarding, such as through drop rates. That piece of content won't face obsoletion until there's a better way to get the progress it provides, but people will still finish the content and never look back just as quickly. The largest bonus possible is that, say, more content will be available to someone upon reaching level-cap if they'd fallen behind previously or only just started the game with the latest expansion. But the amount of content simultaneously available probably won't much be affected if at all. Consider what a player could do to gear up if they hit their first 70 at level 4.35. They can do that new Aquapolis thing, the new Palace of the Dead, dungeons within their item level, 24-mans within their item level, normal mode raids, Frontlines, Feast, or technically even Savage Raids to gear up. That's your breadth of content, right there.

That they all form a pyramid leading to a single peak, whereupon one is "done" is not a unique issue: one could still finish and find there to be nothing left to do if there were six or more separate spires instead, one for each sector of content: they'd just feel less connected, such that if you prefer dungeons and your friend prefers Heaven's Tower you're forced to split up once the gearing disadvantage moving across from one to the other becomes too great.

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But, let's say XIV for whatever reason turned their philosophy about, 180-degrees, and decided that horizontal progression, as a buzz word, was just... the way to go.

To put it simply: I'd be opposed to anything that significantly breaks apart various content types. I'd be opposed to arbitrary by-gimmick gating like Elemental Resistance stats. And, honestly, I don't want to farm a given piece of content for an interesting piece of gear -- e.g. something that would augment an ability in a way that could actually affect my rotation, such as allowing a chance for Firestarter off of Fire4 and giving Fire3 an additional 40 potency. I'd much, much rather that seemingly be a part of a universal character customization system, to which a certain content type or encounter might better contribute, or might uniquely provide some small part, towards X customization/post-progression option. I'd rather a Relic or Regalia (think: some item set that allows for a unique playstyle) mostly be something you progress towards granularly (outside of a few burstier events to spice things up), not just bang your head against for 4 months and then suddenly acquire.

To put it even more simply: Reiterability of content >>> "Length" of content. Breadth of content simultaneously available >>> Breadth of content paths.

[Maeka]

it keeps old content relevant and that makes people feel like there's more to do. i don't particularly care for it but usually it does do that.

The content is grindy enough, why do you want to keep it relevant for longer? lol

People already complain about having to run older dungeons for roulette... do you think people still want to be raiding Bahamut's Coil for gear that is still relevant today? Some people raid it for S&G or roulette bonuses, but not for the drops. Do you think it's healthy to force people to continue raiding it for the rest of the game's lifespan?

[Lambdafish]

The content is grindy enough, why do you want to keep it relevant for longer? lol

Because there are new players joining all the time. The idea of unsynced content, grind nerfs and other methods of making old content completely faceroll (to the point where some bosses can be killed before their first mechanic) is unpleasant if you are just reaching those pieces of content for the first time. Grinds I understand to a certain extent, but unsync is a really bad system that has unfortunately become baseline in the game. There needs to be some sort of control over it so that the content is at least still content rather than a few hits and instant rewards.

The same can be said about poor level sync (particularly on content early into an expansion cycle), but thats a whole other issue.

[SendohJin]

The content is grindy enough, why do you want to keep it relevant for longer? lol

People already complain about having to run older dungeons for roulette... do you think people still want to be raiding Bahamut's Coil for gear that is still relevant today? Some people raid it for S&G or roulette bonuses, but not for the drops. Do you think it's healthy to force people to continue raiding it for the rest of the game's lifespan?

do you even read what you quote?