An idea on how to improve early gameplay?

[ItMe]

Right, but is "run to end, spam AoE, run to end, spam AoE" exactly the content we want? Is that experience not already hollow?

If it's a matter of time constraint, note that the rewards can absolutely be increased in proportion to the additional time taken.

At present, though, any variety in playstyle is effectively just a trap that causes considerable tension between players. What if weren't? What if it weren't all just an illusion of depth or variety?

I think at that point this is going into a different topic.
Not "how to make the early game better," and more "what could be improved about FF14's gameplay."