What are you guys hoping for in the new "Criterion" dungeons?

[Shurrikhan]

I hope they don't replace the exploratory zone. That's all I hope, really.

To be fair, they just need to update the Exploratory Zones to be less locked behind playerbase-dividing grinds and then they'd be free to reuse it as options for later relics' light farms.

Majority?
What is this mythical content that makes healers not suck?

Narnia. The... mythical land. Naturally.

[Martynek]

Could I ask you to expound a little bit more, though, on your preference not to have finely selectable / granular difficulty levels? That, above all, still confuses me.

It's not really a major thing, just something I'm personally not fond of. I think it's a poor middle ground between fully affix-based modular difficulty settings and fewer, more thoroughly tested difficulty tiers. Definitely wouldn't be a deal breaker to me either way though.

[Lustre]

I hope for challenging 4 man content, something similar to m+ but not actually m+. Something repeatable and enjoyable for long term players, with rewards that make it worth doing, but not so good as to make other types of content unviable.

[Shurrikhan]

It's not really a major thing, just something I'm personally not fond of. I think it's a poor middle ground between fully affix-based modular difficulty settings and fewer, more thoroughly tested difficulty tiers. Definitely wouldn't be a deal breaker to me either way though.

Ahhh, I get you what you mean, I think.

And I could see that. I don't really feel like the difficulty tiers lack for "thorough testing", but arguably some of those levels would otherwise be a little redundant (with 1-3, 4-6, 7-9, and 10+ all forming just 5 core difficulty tiers, simply with scaled up dangers for further control over severity) if we had full control over the number and selection of affixes (which, again, is my preference, too).

If we just had just... 5 ranks and full and stackable control over our affixes/"trials of"/etc. then we'd probably be fine. It'd probably feel a little less... gimmicky, I guess, even if it might be slightly less intuitive in getting a sense of one's progress; though, making that progress less (falsely) seem linear may actually be a good thing anyways.

Anyways, thanks again for taking the time to lay this out concretely, instead of this just being left at a mostly overlapping "M+ is good!" vs. "M+ is bad!"

[ASkellington]

What I am hoping for: actually hard 1-4 man dungeons not quite Savage/EX level, but certainly harder than anything we've gotten in this and the last expansions (if they want it to be EX level content sure why not)

What I am expecting: content akin to current expert dungeons or for it to be a reskinned deep dungeon (which, no, deep dungeon should be its own thing)

Am I hyped? No.

[Kisshu]

Hopes and dreams for the content.

1: Higher difficulty than normal modes, just under extreme. Something like "at release" Thunder God Cid, Hashmal, Eden Titan.
2: Some parts randomness such as monster placements, types, augments, bonus rooms without being as random as a Deep Dungeon. Would make it less repetetive for more runs.
3: Progression unlocks, something like Lost Actions, but instead of being items used, it's abilities being unlocked permanently for this content. Could diversify jobs a bit and make people want to try out other jobs.

[Sazuzaki]

Looks like we're finally getting something akin to real dungeons for once based on what I've seen from the LL. Hopefully they don't screw it up, cause lots of people have been really hoping for harder 4 man content!

Glad they're taking at least some risks again. The fact you can change jobs while in Variant Dungeons is super neat, and the mini enrages for the trash mobs in the savage Criterion Dungeons looks interesting too. I wonder if it'll be related to the relic weapon?

[Tlamila]

They're nothing like what I hoped (fun content to duo) which is a shame, but I'm still excited about them though for different reasons now. 4-men savage may be a savage I actually do.

[Sazuzaki]

4-men savage may be a savage I actually do.

For sure. I love 8-man savage content, but it just requires too much time investment. 4-man is right up my alley.

[Tlamila]

For sure. I love 8-man savage content, but it just requires too much time investment. 4-man is right up my alley.

too much people too, who even has 7 friends?