Imagine for a moment if you will

[SinSilverwing]

They already do that now.

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

Like you have pointed out, i would rather see that over them take out skills, like they have done each expansion to make room for new ones with only upgrading a few.

[linay]

Honestly, you can get rid of class/job levels altogether and just have item levels. That keeps the sense of progression without the need to change/rebalance job each expansion due to increasing job levels (though you can still add or change skills as desired).

EDIT: As someone has pointed out:

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

[Reslin]

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

I honestly hope when we hit level 99-100 they just keep raising item level and skills and add new abilities while our level remains in the same ala classic final fantasy design. As opposed to going to 110, 120, 130, 140..

[Nariel]

Honestly, you can get rid of class/job levels altogether and just have item levels. That keeps the sense of progression without the need to change/rebalance job each expansion due to increasing job levels (though you can still add or change skills as desired).

EDIT: As someone has pointed out:

Its not about raw damage input but rather refreshing the gameplay to keep it entertaining. Playing the same character with the same skill-set get stale fast. At least in the kind of MMO FFXIV is.

As an example, playing a mage that use the sames four spells but stronger for years don't feel like he progress as much as a mage learning new spell and new way to use the spells that got stronger.

[SerLuke]

I honestly hope when we hit level 99-100 they just keep raising item level and skills and add new abilities while our level remains in the same ala classic final fantasy design. As opposed to going to 110, 120, 130, 140..

Yeah honestly levels as they are now are a bit pointless outside of gaining new abilities are very pointless as most of our stats come from gear, for example on my lvl 80 i444 PLD I have 114,553 HP before any food or party buffs. without gear outside of a lvl 5 sword(cause the game makes you wear a weapon at all times) I only have 6320 HP at lvl 80.

[linay]

Its not about raw damage input but rather refreshing the gameplay to keep it entertaining. Playing the same character with the same skill-set get stale fast.

I was merely responding to the progression factor. Like I said, you can still modify skillset as desired for variability, but it's no longer tied to job level, which would necessitate it.

[SinSilverwing]

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.

[Enkidoh]

Level Cap
What if with all these Expansions we have now, the level cap never went past 50.

We know what that was like. It was called FFXI.

Specifically the Tanaka-era FFXI, the level cap was stuck on 75 for eight years and three expansions, once he left in the wake of the FFXIV 1.0 launch debacle in 2010 and a new team was brought in the level cap quickly was raised every few months to ultimately 99. When the level cap was frozen on 75 for so long, the game ended up going stale, not to mention rock hard with most content outside of levelling virtually inaccessable unless you were in the minority elite endgame community with their spreadsheet strategies and exploiting certain gear. Thank Azeyma Yoshi made sure to avoid this nonsense when he took over the helm of FFXIV from Tanaka and designed ARR.

FFXI's level cap being raised along with new additions like the Trust npc fighter system made the game so much more enjoyable and bearable. And it's the same here in FFXIV. The game simply has to grow and cannot remain static for too long as content goes stale rapidly otherwise.

[Kaethra]

I would welcome an expansion or two that doesn't increase the leveling cap. The MSQ would be rather short but could potentially have alot of story and lore to provide for those that like it (think of all the story we had in ShB but without having to do fetch quests to buffer your level). There would be far more dungeons right off the bat. Areas would all be challenging and relevant. Difficulty could pick up where the previous expansion left off instead of resetting and working its way back up.

Devs would need less time spent on leveling content. Balancing classes (it would have been done prior). And more time on dungeons, MSQ, and endgame. Everyone would also start at the same place in the 'endgame' so population disparity would be less.