Lack of End Game Content

[Zabuza]

To all the ones like Nims and Zabuza, wanting more challenging end game content, the more and more I think about all the pieces of the puzzle, the more I am starting to come to an odd conclusion. For some it's not so much the content or the rewards of the content, it's the spirit of competition.

Maybe I'm wrong, but the lack of content crowd seems to be the ones that also strive for world/server first clears so devour content faster than everyone else. Its not the loot or content that drives them, but their competitive nature.

And thats where the content is truly lacking. So if raids or pvp were totally off the table, what other kinds of competitive things might be fun for you? Weekly/Monthly leaderboards for fastest min iLvl clears for certain trials/dungeons, lowest iLvl clears done for the same, random boss rush roulettes?

I would go for world/server first clears if I had the time, or the main job(Samurai is shunned for such things). My Zalera server first was before I got a full time job. Now, I just want refreshing content that can last for more than 2 months. I want them to think outside the box for fights(in this case quite literally.) I would love for fights to be implemented where you cleverly utilize the environment to kill adds on certain phases, or parts of the fight where the environment itself interacts with our character in unique ways(there are plenty of examples of this if you look at other MMOs.) I love PvP, but this game engine isn't built for that with the way the combat works so I don't talk about it.

I would love if the Savage raids were even more expansive than coil was, with plenty of hidden mysteries to explore. Of course, I realize people don't wish to waste their time and want to go straight to the goal, so there would have to be proper reward incentives. For this, I think of something like chests that can contain an item that pops an NM, either inside or outside the raid, which in turn would drop high gil items to sell(Think KSNMs/BCNMs from FFXI). High-end crafting items having a small chance to drop off the trash in between is also something that can provide incentive. They can also implement a survival mode type endgame, where waves of enemies(tons of trash and bosses scattered here and there) rush at you(similar to one of your suggestions). Rewards could correspond to how long you survive and how many bosses you kill. What is sorely lacking right now in endgame is any form of exploration or adventure. It's just boss fights and that's it. It's extremely linear, as is the gear, which is also a limiting factor on endgame right now. If you made additional modes, the amount of BiS gear wouldn't increase, because there is no such thing as situational gear in this game, just flat stats. I would love to implement more exploration into our endgame, for it to feel like an epic adventure. But again, knowing how people are, there has to be some kind of reward for that.