EXP Rewards After Hitting Level Cap

[Sandpark]

I've always felt there could be something from a cosmetic merit system, can even give it a cute sphere/crystal/XII grid - where you unlock these visual customization that allow you to look different than someone else without giving an edge that makes it painful to arrive late to the game.

Just encase someone is unfamiliar with what merit systems are. A merit system takes EXP you no longer earn at cap and adds them to a pool that you can spend on specific things like +5 strength, +10 seconds to burn, and so forth. Here I'm suggesting a cosmetic merit system where you take your exp and purchase unique things that don't affect gameplay but do affect how you present yourself (like changing an ability look or giving you very special equipment). Doesn't have to be limited to your character though, there could be a tab for general for emotes, mounts, etc. As for sphere grid, crystarium, and the license board (FFXII) they're just different ways to represent level progression - and since this is just for cosmetics the devs could have fun on presentation if they wanted.

• Did you want that smokey dark knight effect for tank stance? Well you can now.
• That female/male weapon stance, you want it? Go for it.
• Were you a huge fan of Golbez, that black mage with plate armor? We made a special exception on no heavy metal, just for you .
• Holy breastplate? Yes, whm you can have.
• Not enough praising the sun Paladin? Have some sunlight lance instead of shield lob (bolts of holy light being tossed at the enemy).

Etc

Could be other things as well like permanently unlocking a dye color, that'd keep some people going for literal days+ worth of time just so they could unlock all the colors lol.

The description of FFXIV gameplay made me a bit sad though, as an aside

No disrespect because some of those things you listed sound cool. But one of my issues with this game is everything is cosmetic for the most part.

1. Got a cool armor from a raid or dungeon? Well in a patch or two the stats will suck and it is cosmetic from then on.
2. Got a cool egi glamour? Well hope you like it because you are probably never getting new egis. Cosmetic
3. Capped all your tombstone gear? Well enjoy it because in a patch or two your gear stats will be obsolete and it will be cosmetic.
4. Finished progression on one character and bored? Well go do something else or wait till the next patch so you can start a new cosmetic cycle.
5. Tired of your character's Dragoon looking and playing like 100 other Dragoons? Well it might seem that way because your character is, glamour it. Cosmetic.

Progress, erased, repeat, progress, erased, repeat, progress, erase, repeat, forever and ever and ever.

Sure the point of having a moving goal post is to keep you playing longer. People call it a hamster on a wheel. I don't mind being a hamster on a wheel, all games are meant to waste time.
But I don't like the wheel sending me back in time 3 months before and telling me to do it over. And making my hamster look like a pig or fairy is not gonna change that.
As long as that wheel moves forward at all times, I will spin that wheel happily chasing that piece of cheese 10 miles ahead of me.

Balance and the need for parity has served the game well for the most part in previous years. But this game is no longer a new game, been out since 2010-2011.
It is time for an elder perpetual progression experience system to come to fruition. And funny enough, this game already has systems in place to facilitate that with the numerous logs.
The rewards just need to change from only just being unlocks on achievements and cosmetics, to actually adding character progression via stats and skills.

[Shougun]

No disrespect because some of those things you listed sound cool. But

REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

Lol it's fine. I understand your concern, I think for the issues you presented the feelings of course are real like having your progress wiped out. I would suggest that a merit system would be a lot scarier if done non-cosmetically though :P. Longer lasting gear (where the next tier of gear doesn't just invalidate the previous tier, so less stat growing per ilvl maybe) might be good. But I don't think looking for long term stat progression through a merit system would be good, because if it's too in depth the pool is so deep that new players are looking at like 100 hours of grinding to catch up to the power of others.

Besides with a cosmetic merit system they could add things normally impossible, such that it doesn't go over other work. You're not going to be able to unlock a smokey dark knight effect any other way, this is it - there is no invalidation its just an option to pick if you had wanted it (and you get to keep it even if you decided later to turn it off).

[Sandpark]

REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

Lol it's fine. I understand your concern, I think for the issues you presented the feelings of course are real like having your progress wiped out. I would suggest that a merit system would be a lot scarier if done non-cosmetically though :P. Longer lasting gear (where the next tier of gear doesn't just invalidate the previous tier, so less stat growing per ilvl maybe) might be good. But I don't think looking for long term stat progression through a merit system would be good, because if it's too in depth the pool is so deep that new players are looking at like 100 hours of grinding to catch up to the power of others.

Besides with a cosmetic merit system they could add things normally impossible, such that it doesn't go over other work. You're not going to be able to unlock a smokey dark knight effect any other way, this is it - there is no invalidation its just an option to pick if you had wanted it (and you get to keep it even if you decided later to turn it off).

Dangerous but well worth the effort if done right. In my opinion the biggest hurdle for newer players playing with older players is the MSQ and the lack of a level sync option.

In a imaginary world someone who invest 10 hours should reap what someone who invest 1000 hours in an endeavor is fair. But in reality, it is not. Parity does not have to be that strict, as long as they can play the same content for the most part.

A danger with adding perpetual progression is lower level content being obsolete.
Well unless you care about tomestones and cosmetics, the lower level content becomes obsolete anyways by the day until they give you a new reason to revisit.
Be honest.
Are you playing older content because it is fresh or exciting or because there is a carrot for replaying old content?
Do you enjoy getting max level then needing to go back and play level 20 dungeons or level 10 fates with half the toolkit?

You are revisiting lower content on high level jobs because of carrots on a stick and level sync makes it possible.

So what needs to happen to add a perpetual progress/merit/champion point/mastery system and keep the lower level content relevant?

Global change:

1. The option to enter any MSQ quest or dungeon with players or trusts.
2. The MSQ quantity to be truncated slightly so players can reach max level faster.
3. A toggle for auto level sync down. Toggle it on and you are the appropriate level for the content be it open world enemies, fates, sidequests, MSQ or whatever.
4. If you happen to be at the maximum level. When toggling auto sync down into lower level content a merit point experience system is turned on.
5. Doing any activity in any lower level content grants merit points at a granular level similar to standard xp bar.
6. Completing a piece of a log, say a challenge log grants a somewhat larger merit point gain or a different type of merit point, let's call it star point.
7. Complete an entire section of a log grants alot of merit points and star points.
8. Use your merit and star points to unlock various cosmetics, titles, stats, traversal boons, and skill modifiers.

Ok so you added a perpetual xp system. Now what the hell kind of content is all the power going to be used for??
Enter "The Savage World"
Square creates a copy of the Entire Eorzea world, this version is called the Savage World.
If you played FFXI, this concept might make sense to you with the S zones in Abyssea or the Dynamis zones.
Basically upon entering a special teleport or entrance you are transported to an alternate reality of the current zones.
But here in the XIV Savage World, everything is dangerous, deadly, the zones seem darker and grittier, the enemies are powerful enough where you need parties to get around and level or traverse.
There are even new types of enemies in places they were not before, new fates, new hunts, etc, and this applies to dungeons and raids.
The Savage zones are scaled to whatever the current max level is for the playerbase. There is no need for sync, all content is scaled towards the max level.
For instance say the current cap was 70. La Noscea entire zone is 70, Coerthas is 70, Temple of Karn is 70, Temple of the Ancients is 70, yada, yada, yada.
You don't earn experience here just the max form of merit points, let's just call it superstar points, and you can't earn this kind outside of the Savage Worlds.
If they could add souped up or alternate versions of existing gear for high level, that's even better.