I hope Square doesn't keep deeming certain content unnecessary

[anhaato]

This was a trend I had been noticing since before the pandemic; Square had been cutting out bits of content that were thought to have been precedent per the previous two expansions, likely because they had decided such content could've been cut without anyone caring. But it really does make the pack seem barren in retrospect when we consider that we had no side expert dungeons except for the two we got in 5.0, no deep dungeon, no Bozja until over halfway through the pack's life cycle, even the lack of a Tataru outfit at the end of 5.55's story was really disappointing.

I realize the people who care about these bits of content may be considered a minority. I'm sure me wanting more dungeons for expert roulette is a fringe opinion, and that a lot of people didn't notice the absence of a Tataru outfit. But that's what we all thought about crafters and gatherers too, and they introduced a brand new form of endgame content just for them, and it turned out to be a huge success. Likewise, I'm sure there's plenty of deep dungeon enthusiasts out there who were burned by not getting one this pack, and even if they're a small portion of the players, which I'm not a part of personally, it's understandable that they'd be upset. I know they are, because I've seen them voicing this quite often!

I understand that a lot had to get pushed back because of the pandemic, but a lot of this content trimming was planned from the very beginning. Is the solution for square to fire on all cylinders and try to push out every bit of content possible to satisfy every player? I can't say; I don't work in game development so I have no idea how hard that would be on them. But I hope they at least realize that they can't keep cutting content thinking no one will notice. Even if the majority is ambivalent on it, we still notice its absence.

[linayar]

Speaking of, I actually don't like when there is content that just stops but is still in the game. Guildhest and combat guildleve are two such contents. I've said in the past that combat guildleve is my favorite type of open world content, but since they're not updating it, I'd rather these two contents be removed and adjust the rewards for other contents to compensate.

I'm not sure how I feel about contents that seem to be replaced, like squadron-trust. If they roll trust to older contents, then I would be fine with removing squadron. Otherwise, I guess it could stay as it has distinguishable features, like being related to the GC.

[Jandor]

I'm not sure how I feel about contents that seem to be replaced, like squadron-trust. If they roll trust to older contents, then I would be fine with removing squadron. Otherwise, I guess it could stay as it has distinguishable features, like being related to the GC.

I really wish they'd mash those two systems together, with the GC recruits as customizable trust options. Set them up at the GC HQ, glams, AI type, etc. and then roll into the duties through the trust menu.

I also think you should get a small squad straight away, I mean I'd basically rework the GC stuff quite a bit, but that's a bit of derailment of the thread so never mind.

[linayar]

I really wish they'd mash those two systems together, with the GC recruits as customizable trust options. Set them up at the GC HQ, glams, AI type, etc. and then roll into the duties through the trust menu.

I also think you should get a small squad straight away, I mean I'd basically rework the GC stuff quite a bit, but that's a bit of derailment of the thread so never mind.

I suppose it depends on what happens post 6.0. Depending on where the story go and who our companions are moving forward, there is certainly a possibility of combining the two systems.

[Jeeqbit]

The resources were obviously redistributed to new ideas, like Delubrum Reginae, Delubrum Reginae Savage, Memoria Misera, a second BA-like thing (Dalriada), critical engagements (which each involve the same amount of design work as dungeon bosses), the Firmament, ocean fishing, crafter and gatherer overhauls and QoL.

[Shurrikhan]

Speaking of, I actually don't like when there is content that just stops but is still in the game. Guildhest and combat guildleve are two such contents. I've said in the past that combat guildleve is my favorite type of open world content, but since they're not updating it, I'd rather these two contents be removed and adjust the rewards for other contents to compensate.

I'm not sure how I feel about contents that seem to be replaced, like squadron-trust. If they roll trust to older contents, then I would be fine with removing squadron. Otherwise, I guess it could stay as it has distinguishable features, like being related to the GC.

Guildhests, or at least their promise/concept as curated learning scenarios (perhaps later developing towards bite-size 5-10 minute challenges), feel like they could be so damn appealing/lucrative if the effort were actually made... I really hope they revamp them rather than discontinue them entirely.

Guildleves, on the other hand, I'm not too sold on. Anything that gets me out into the open world is good, but I disliked everything about the system apart from its being a way to manually spawn mobs or nodes that, upon killing/gathering all, gave somewhat meaningful experience.

I'd much rather the world itself be designed in such a way as to make little mob ecosystems or playgrounds of sorts, ideally as could lead to increasing access to further, reasonably rewarding challenges with exp gathered there, such as by spawning harder mobs, triggering events, etc.

Heck, it feels like FATEs always ought to have just been a way to just clue players in to events triggered through open world systems so they could join for the bigger, more spectacle-like moments. At present, though, they've no cohesion or connection beyond the rare FATE chain...

________

As for Squadrons and Trusts, I'm hoping they revamp Trusts to work for HW and StB. I disagree with Enkidoh (below) that there's any sort of hard block to such. If you need a Trust character to teleport to make a preestablished mechanic work out, so be it. That said, I'd also like the option of choosing from among my Squadron (or setting a default party who would then be added to the Trust menu) for that content span, and wouldn't mind the ability to order Trusts around just as one would for their Squadron. I'd like to combine the two systems, as you said.

[Enkidoh]

I suppose it depends on what happens post 6.0. Depending on where the story go and who our companions are moving forward, there is certainly a possibility of combining the two systems.

I don't really think it's possible though for technical reasons - the Trust system works because the dungeons in ShB were specifically designed to work with the Trust system from the very beginning, and so their mechanics could accomodate the Trust AI. Pre ShB dungeons however, were never designed for that, and so the GC squad had to work around this, hence the more limited abilities they have, and why you can't just take your GC squad into any old pre ShB dungeon, there is only a very limited list available they can be used, because through much careful testing and experimentation only those dungeons SE has been able to adapt the AI to work with as good as they can, rather than the other way around (they can't mess with dungeon mechanics too much otherwise it ruins it for player parties). It's a catch-22 I'm afraid.

Certainly all new dungeons will be able to use the Trusts, and more characters will become available to be used with it (Estinien after all is confirmed to become a Trust in EW), but I do not see the GC system being ever rolled into it I'm afraid, for the aforementioned reasons.

[DrWho2010]

All that "cut content" was repurposed elsewhere though. The devs have a vision they want to realize as well. They can't possibly acquiesce to every whim and want that the player desires.

Covid also really reduced what they could do. Even now Yoshi-p says they're still not back at full working capacity like in the past. (I think the latest stat he threw around was like 90%).

Deep dungeon in 5.x was cut because just pumping out another version wasn't what they were looking to do. Instead the leveling method got put into Bozja. We also got 3 new large scale instances as well associated with this (CLL, DR, Dalriada).

Hildy was put on the backburner for 5.x because they also felt it was getting stale. They have said he will be back for 6.x though, so don't worry there. He just needed a rest.

Sure it's disappointing that there is not going to be an Allied Beast Tribe quest this time, but *shrug* it is what it is. It just wasn't a priority this time around. As well the three beast tribes this time don't really.... mesh well together? Plus the usual catboi villain guy doesn't exist on the First either. It was a stretch that he was there for the Stormblood one.

[linayar]

Guildhests, or at least their promise/concept as curated learning scenarios (perhaps later developing towards bite-size 5-10 minute challenges), feel like they could be so damn appealing/lucrative if the effort were actually made... I really hope they revamp them rather than discontinue them entirely.

I liked them well enough, but I don't even bother unlocking/doing them on all other characters beyond my initial-now-having-long-been-deleted character as there was nothing new to them.

Guildleves, on the other hand, I'm not too sold on. Anything that gets me out into the open world is good, but I disliked everything about the system apart from its being a way to manually spawn mobs or nodes that, upon killing/gathering all, gave somewhat meaningful experience.

I'd much rather the world itself be designed in such a way as to make little mob ecosystems or playgrounds of sorts, ideally as could lead to increasing access to further, reasonably rewarding challenges with exp gathered there, such as by spawning harder mobs, triggering events, etc.

I'm open to different variations, but the manual spawning and non-competitive (maybe even cooperative) nature (IIRC) of guildleve are the features I want.

Heck, it feels like FATEs always ought to have just been a way to just clue players in to events triggered through open world systems so they could join for the bigger, more spectacle-like moments. At present, though, they've no cohesion or connection beyond the rare FATE chain...

There could be more of such links, but independent FATEs would still have to exist. Sometimes, you just want to do something without feeling like you've just started on a chain that you may not have time to complete.

I don't really think it's possible though for technical reasons - the Trust system works because the dungeons in ShB were specifically designed to work with the Trust system from the very beginning, and so their mechanics could accomodate the Trust AI. Pre ShB dungeons however, were never designed for that, and so the GC squad had to work around this, hence the more limited abilities they have, and why you can't just take your GC squad into any old pre ShB dungeon, there is only a very limited list available they can be used, because through much careful testing and experimentation only those dungeons SE has been able to adapt the AI to work with as good as they can, rather than the other way around (they can't mess with dungeon mechanics too much otherwise it ruins it for player parties). It's a catch-22 I'm afraid.

Certainly all new dungeons will be able to use the Trusts, and more characters will become available to be used with it (Estinien after all is confirmed to become a Trust in EW), but I do not see the GC system being ever rolled into it I'm afraid, for the aforementioned reasons.

That's why I talked about post 6.0. I was thinking of a combination of the two for future contents, not existing ones.

[ZedxKayn]

The resources were obviously redistributed to new ideas, like Delubrum Reginae, Delubrum Reginae Savage, Memoria Misera, a second BA-like thing (Dalriada), critical engagements (which each involve the same amount of design work as dungeon bosses), the Firmament, ocean fishing, crafter and gatherer overhauls and QoL.

It was not, we had Eureka's 4 zones and BA for SB, but we also had HoH, Tataru's outfit, Allied tribe quest, more EX dungeons, ponctual events, two Ultimates, and possibly more I don't remember were cut.
Despite reaping more money in than ever with ShB, SE didn't give it back to us as content nearly as much as they did in the past.