Imagine for a moment if you will

[SinSilverwing]

The entire nature of this thread is hypothetical. It is meant for fun. So with that preface lets not have arguments but discussions and debates.

Also this is not for trying to push changes in the game or implementing features, there are a plethora of threads for that kind of discussion already with more being added by the minute.

With that out of the way... Ill start us off with one

Level Cap
What if with all these Expansions we have now, the level cap never went past 50.
We still got classes added, but we never got skills removed to make place for new ones due to button bloat. Our actual skills are never really important outside class and job quests, and those stopped really being tied to it past level 50. We would still get new job quests each expansion but without the need to balance the new tool kits each time. Those resources could be spent on other areas.

SMN
What if instead of carbuncle glamours, we got actual Egi for the Primals we fight in each patch or expansion?

EDIT
Please feel free to add your own what if scenarios! Any brought forward will be added below!

Added What Ifs

Player Housing

While i have no issues with Wards and Plots like we currently have... The system does feel dated, and likely is how it is due to the often mentioned Spaghetti Code.
What if it was like LotR Online where it is set that each time one of their wards fills up a new one is automatically added it without the devs touching it. Or like 11 did, which was our own instanced room. Maybe make it a 2 floor with a balcony used for the "outdoor" furnishings and gardening.

[Nariel]

The entire nature of this thread is hypothetical. It is meant for fun. So with that preface lets not have arguments but discussions and debates.

Also this is not for trying to push changes in the game or implementing features, there are a plethora of threads for that kind of discussion already with more being added by the minute.

With that out of the way... Ill start us off with one

Level Cap
What if with all these Expansions we have now, the level cap never went past 50.
We still got classes added, but we never got skills removed to make place for new ones due to button bloat. Our actual skills are never really important outside class and job quests, and those stopped really being tied to it past level 50. We would still get new job quests each expansion but without the need to balance the new tool kits each time. Those resources could be spent on other areas.

SMN
What if instead of carbuncle glamours, we got actual Egi for the Primals we fight in each patch or expansion?

[SerLuke]

I mean the lvl cap in FFXI was 75 for years yet they still introduced new skills at various points for different jobs, they don't have to raise the lvl cap to add more skills.

[SinSilverwing]

I mean the lvl cap in FFXI was 75 for years yet they still introduced new skills at various points for different jobs, they don't have to raise the lvl cap to add more skills.

True, my reasoning is they take away skills with each level cap raise to add new ones because they don't want jobs to go beyond a certain number of skills. So mayhap with expansions they add traits that could upgrade skills to new ones this brings about new skills and abilities without the worry of button bloat.

[Xandos]

One of the major concerns would be progression. How would you feel that your character is getting more powerful? Is that even a concern to consider? I feel that it is but I am no expert. Would you get higher item level gear each expansion? Would you abilities just start doing more damage/healing each expansion? Part of the reason players play games is to have their characters grow and become stronger.

I personally liked that many of the things in 11 stayed relevant years later. Not having everything I did last expansion relegated to a gear locker or the vendor was a nice feeling. I assume I am in the minority here though.

[Astrus]

I don't feel like this game lends itself well to the horizontal progression the Guild Wars franchise and the like do where you cap your level and equipment relatively fast and then find other ways to progress.
The loot spiral is too ingrained into the game to get rid of on a whim and as long as we keep progression through better and better loot just stopping progression through character levels is not going to do much of anything. All you would do is take away character growth for those players not heavily invested in the loot spiral.

Horizontal progression can work but the game has to be designed around it from the start and FFXIV very much isn't.

As for Egi-glamours: Ramuh-egi has been "coming" long enough to suggest that Egi-glamour is well and truly abandoned.

[Shurrikhan]

One of the major concerns would be progression. How would you feel that your character is getting more powerful?

To be fair, your character gets weaker with increased job level, not stronger (unless you're progressing whilst naked), because the secondary stats of your gear are devalued each level.

It's added skills and item level that make you stronger.

But I suppose the natural question that would stem next from all that is then, why even have levels at all, instead of simply item level and acquired skills? And I think that just comes down to packaging what really matters (skills and item level) under easier to understand tangential waymarks (job levels), and I don't find anything inherently wrong with that bit of bloat or misassumption if it nonetheless helps the average player.

[SinSilverwing]

I don't feel like this game lends itself well to the horizontal progression the Guild Wars franchise and the like do where you cap your level and equipment relatively fast and then find other ways to progress.
The loot spiral is too ingrained into the game to get rid of on a whim and as long as we keep progression through better and better loot just stopping progression through character levels is not going to do much of anything. All you would do is take away character growth for those players not heavily invested in the loot spiral.

Horizontal progression can work but the game has to be designed around it from the start and FFXIV very much isn't.

As for Egi-glamours: Ramuh-egi has been "coming" long enough to suggest that Egi-glamour is well and truly abandoned.

Like i said, this was all in fun.

I wasn't trying to say that they do away and rework 14 from what it is, I quite enjoy it even if the gear grind gets taxing at times. Rather I was trying to picture a world were 14 had been designed with horizontal progression from the start.

As for the Egi Glams, its a pipe dream.

In the end this was never a thread to be serious about trying to redesign the game but rather imagine what it could be like if certain desicions and choices been made differently during the games inception before the coding even began. Which is where my body came from with the Level Caps

[SerLuke]

One of the major concerns would be progression. How would you feel that your character is getting more powerful? Is that even a concern to consider? I feel that it is but I am no expert. Would you get higher item level gear each expansion? Would you abilities just start doing more damage/healing each expansion? Part of the reason players play games is to have their characters grow and become stronger.

I personally liked that many of the things in 11 stayed relevant years later. Not having everything I did last expansion relegated to a gear locker or the vendor was a nice feeling. I assume I am in the minority here though.

In theory ilvl would keep progressing as it is now, our stats would continue to grow with gear.

[Bacent]

So mayhap with expansions they add traits that could upgrade skills to new ones this brings about new skills and abilities without the worry of button bloat.

They already do that now.

Example: Stone -> Stone II -> Stone III -> Stone IV -> Glare