What would you like to see (differently) in the next Final Fantasy MMO?

[SamRF]

I honestly see too many issues with Duties as MSQ requirements.

Not only because the entire game has as a result, revolved around "Spam DF Roulettes" because they need to ensure that newbies can actually progress in the MSQ in a MSQ driven game.

But also, how absolutely terrible they are for immersion. Where 90% of the "Duty" content the MSQ implies you did it alone. With only a small handful of times where there's a comment or cutscene that suggests or shows you getting a random party of 4-8 people to help you. Due to reasons such as "You're literally the only one in the world who can do this" which also would preclude Trusts as a way to bypass this.

I find that Astellia Online's version of MSQ required duties far better, since when they hype you up as the sole "Chosen One" (An Astellian in their case, Hydaelyn's chosen here) and then you go and do the solo duty, alone, and kick butt it feels way more immersive than having to stop being a badass so you can group up with random people who pop up out of nowhere and then vanish completely once you're done with the duty and enter the cutscene at the end.

With the group version of these duties being unlocked later so you can farm them for your loot if you wish, but not being required for progressing the MSQ.

I completely agree. Actually I believe they should do this in FFXIV right now, adding a solo option for all older MSQ instances. I feel like it could quite easily be done by just messing with the numbers. It won't have instance gameplay as originally intended, but it will be better than waiting ages for a queue and it would also satisfy all if it's just a voluntary option. They'll perhaps get obliged to do something like this because it will get harder and harder to keep older content relevant with each expansion.

Besides that, I'd honestly love it if literally all instances would have an optional solo equivalent that didn't give any loot/xp/rewards, not just MSQ ones. Immersion being a big factor, but also just the ability to do some content (e.g. that is difficult to get queue for) whenever you want and enjoy the art. They don't have to dedicate resources to introduce new mechanics for solo play for me. If it's an alliance raid for example, just literally take out all mechanics that require the alliances or just make the bosses basically like a mob that still does all the nice (transformation) animations during the fight, but without any mechanics. Just want to be able to enjoy the art first time I play an instance for immersion and at other times when nobody queues for it anymore, even if the combat will be equivalent of fighting a dummy.

You could argue that I might as well just watch a movie at that point, but being engaged in combat makes a big difference imo. I enjoy doing older content right now solo, although wish things wouldn't die as fast