A request for your constructive suggestions on Bozja 5.45

[TaleraRistain]

1) Allow mettle to be gained from mobs, Skirmishes, CEs, etc. This means your only option to rank up isn't another endless FATE grind. You can do a little bit of everything and still progress or just focus on one type and still progress. This gives the zone wider appeal because players can choose how they interact with it.
2) Have daily missions for mettle.
3) Have options in the challenge log that provide mettle.
4) Make the story a solo questline. Make any group instances have either a group option for those who want it or a Trust option. People wouldn't be nearly as pissed about the relic if they did this. And there wouldn't be "bads" as someone mentioned previously in CLL because they wouldn't be forced into there. Plus the relic questline is usually pretty good and integrating it meaningfully into a zone is kind of neat.
5) Make relic drops equal both inside and outside. That way they also maintain the idea that players want in having options on where they get their relic items. But there's no reason inside should be less than outside.
6) Keep things like CLL and DR as optional content. Then they can be designed with additional challenge and remain that way for those who enjoy that sort of thing.
7) Get rid of mettle loss. Seriously, this isn't 1999. Punishing players for playing your content is not the way to get people to play your content.

[Kisshu]

2) Make a way for Actions to be learn-able. I think a lot of people, myself included, are consumable adverse (I do not like using non-easily, painlessly, obtainable consumables to help myself in battle unless I HAVE to use it to win, I don't purposely lose of course lol). But if you gave a carrot at the end on use you'd see a lot more spell use, which would just increase the quality of everyone (by the fact they're using bigger spells). Heck add an achievement or something to it too (learning X spells). This could be done a large variety of ways, from FFIX to FFVII systems to one special slot you earn or something. Maybe like DnD or darksouls where you can rest at scattered locations to restock.

This is my biggest personal problem from all the way back in Eureka. Nothing sucks more than popping an essence and then realize that the instance is dying and it also makes it very annoying changing between jobs.

[Seraphor]

7) Get rid of mettle loss. Seriously, this isn't 1999. Punishing players for playing your content is not the way to get people to play your content.

Losing mettle isn't a punishment for playing, it's a punishment for dying. Don't die.
If you're increasing the amount of mettle you gain and the actions that award it, which I completely agree with, then there's no reason to change how mettle is lost. (although I would maybe reduce the penalty for returning to the start in Delubrum when out of combat)
It's very easy to regain any lost mettle as it is, and it serves as an incentive for those who have cleared Bozja to return to it (along with acquiring more lost actions), after all they lose mettle by dying in Delubrum Reginae.

[Reinha]

1) Make Castrum the best way to earn anything after rank 10. Including mettle, clusters, relic tokens and xp.
2) Add non-tradeable cosmetic items that can be bought with a lot of gold coins. If it's something you can keep grinding and are guaranteed to get, people will keep doing the content. Unreal is proof of this.
3) Don't kill any instances. If it isn't full then you can add more people to it.

[KageTokage]

Losing mettle isn't a punishment for playing, it's a punishment for dying. Don't die.

The number of times I've died due to tanks zoning out and not taunting and/or not using tank stance in CEs or Delubrum has probably cost me a couple hundred thousand mettle at this point.

The mechanic really is kind of arbitrary in the grand scheme of things and there are better ways to encourage people to return to content then forced regrinding (And you bet they'll require you to be at 700K when 5.5 drops for one reason or another).

[Seraphor]

The number of times I've died due to tanks zoning out and not taunting and/or not using tank stance in CEs or Delubrum has probably cost me a couple hundred thousand mettle at this point.

The mechanic really is kind of arbitrary in the grand scheme of things and there are better ways to encourage people to return to content then forced regrinding (And you bet they'll require you to be at 700K when 5.5 drops for one reason or another).

If they remove the penalty for dying, then they'll have to reduce how much mettle you gain from the content.
It'll just turn it into another long linear grind along with the memories, longer than it currently takes.
Currently it's a dynamic process that is largely under your control, and you can gain more control by using essences that increase your survivability, or lost actions to heal/mitigate/revive.

[Doozer]

1. Just let me queue for castrum or take off the requirement to complete it to continue on with my relic. Came back after not enjoying WoW again just to be walled off from my relic since no one really wants to do castrum anymore.

And... that's really it from me. I don't mind the grind, leveling, mettle, etc,. but the castrum wall is just too much. It's not fun to wait an hour for it to pop and then only 20ish people want to go do it, all newbies and we really only get 1 or 2 shots at completing it.

This is my main issue as well. I didn't really have any interest in doing Bozja, or at least not right away, but now I have to in order to continue the relic all of a sudden. So I spent a few days getting to rank 10 to do Castrum and continue on my way, except barely 20 people went in, people argued, gave wrong information, and we floundered for 15 minutes until people just started dropping out. If it can't even fill up all the way like the CEs, how are we supposed to do it?

Either remove Castrum from the relic requirement, change it to be a duty finder duty, or give people a reason to do it more than once. At least on NA servers, people won't ever do something to be nice and will only do it for loot or rewards.

I resubbed to continue the relic weapons, and now I'm completely stuck until something changes. That's not good design.

[MarniDawg]

1. Make critical engagements have a 100% drop on memories you need to upgrade relics on the recollection step. This will encourage people to do skirmishes to pop them and give a competitive method for farming fates outside bozja.

2. Castrum drops increased bronze coins. reward some mettle upon completion. increase chance for upgrade item for first set of bozja gear to drop. Add some other type of reward? It just doesn't feel like there is a reason to go back and do it after you complete it.

3. Make it so that after you collect x number of a lost action you unlock it permanently. You are already limited on how much you can carry with you anyway. Give players a reason to farm and a permanent reward for it so that people wont be afraid to have fun with the new system!

[Packetdancer]

Losing mettle isn't a punishment for playing, it's a punishment for dying. Don't die.
If you're increasing the amount of mettle you gain and the actions that award it, which I completely agree with, then there's no reason to change how mettle is lost. (although I would maybe reduce the penalty for returning to the start in Delubrum when out of combat)
It's very easy to regain any lost mettle as it is, and it serves as an incentive for those who have cleared Bozja to return to it (along with acquiring more lost actions), after all they lose mettle by dying in Delubrum Reginae.

Honestly, I'm fine with losing mettle; I agree with you there.

From a system design perspective, though, I'm less-fine with a system that can penalize but not award, because it disincentivizes people from engaging with said system. This is a problem with Castrum Lacus Litore and Delubrum Reginae; I know a lot of people who are reluctant to run them because they can lose mettle in them but not gain them.

And yes, you can go earn back mettle in the Southern Front skirmishes and CEs; it's not like it's an insurmountable penalty. But it does demonstrably decrease involvement in that content, which is content that requires buy-in and participation to make it viable for those who do want (or need, for story progression) to engage with it.

This is why CLL and DR should either do away with mettle loss, or award some rank-appropriate mettle for defeating the various bosses within. I'd prefer the latter (since it does still mean you can leave at a loss if you are incautious with mechanics), and I think the risk of 'I might lose mettle' is actually a neat factor in engaging with those; it makes them feel more like a battle with actual risk.

But even doing away with mettle loss in there would increase player engagement with that content, which I think is crucial.

[Theodric]

Gil.

I want gil to be a reward for, well, everything in Bozja.