Post-Honeymoon SHB thoughts?

[Nicodemus_Mercy]

Overall feels like a rehash of past expansions with different colored monsters and tomes. Same formula. Story is better, but the gameplay seems to be just another endless cycle of grinding.

See... I actually LIKE the fact that there's a formula that SE generally sticks to. I LIKE the consistency of knowing what to expect in general. Unlike some MMO's that feel the need to reinvent the wheel EVERY. DARN. EXPANSION. and either abandon or change for the sake of change, things that were perfectly fine as they were, I am happy that when a new FFXIV expansion comes out, I know there will be tome gear that my non-savage raiding butt can eventually get, that there will be lots of story for me to engage in, basic raid content with weekly rewards, etc.

Heck, I was sorely disappointed that SE made the change in Stormblood to lock the relic behind Eureka instead of it being a long chain of quest content like previous relics. I am hoping (though realistically expecting disappointment) that the next relic will not be locked behind Eureka 2.0 style content because I absolutely detested Eureka and the lack of that content (because if I hate it that much it may as well not exist) caused me to unsub for stretches at a time in Stormblood because there was "less content" for me to do, that I wanted to do, that felt worth doing.