Fundamental Changes You'd Like to See for 7.x and onward

[Shurrikhan]

Gonna go ahead and toss in my own $0.02, I guess.

• Effectively remove the added delay to animation ICD completion time from ping. This can be done by no longer having the server reset the client's ICD timer with its confirmation check or, at worst case, by attaching to the refreshed ICD a reduction to the resultant ICD based on round-trip. This would make ping irrelevant to actual action speed, even when double-weaving, and would almost always allow lossless double-weaving on as low as a 1.5s GCD and lossless triple-weaving as low as a 2s GCD.
  
  
• Full transparency on the effects of secondary stats within the Character Panel and fix the damn gear-slot alignments.
  
  
• Attach glamours / glamour plates to jobs, not to gear. As such, even when upgrading a given piece, one wouldn't need to return to a sanctuary or mirror nor consume a glamour prism to correct it back to one's target appearance. You just set it and can happily forget about it until next you want to change how you look, with different jobs no longer competing over shared items for their best-fit glamours.
  
  
• Get rid of the existing concept of Materia. Instead, we go the FF7R direction, wherein choice of materia gives a concise (no more than 4 nodes/points/intervals of choice; maybe even as few as one) but potent further degree of customization. It's bound job-by-job, but you can bind the same acquired Materia to multiple jobs simultaneously.
  
  
• Upon acquiring a usable time-locked item for one job (e.g., Savage or weekly tome gear), you can acquire the same slot pieces from that source for all other jobs with non-time-locked currency. Get the Savage Fending chest and you can then buy with uncapped tomes the Savage Healing chest. You'll still generally need the same amount of time to complete your first set unless gutter-looting something for your level-cap alt and then buying up your main's version of it, but that's basically just bad luck mitigation at that point.
  
  
• Raid coffers, parts, and pages consolidated into just a single item type for Normal and a single item type for Savage. Finishing Savage Floor 1 unlocks Accessories and Coat for purchase. Floor 2 unlocks Boots, Gloves, Helm, and Twine. Floor 3 unlocks Chest, Pants, and Solvent. Floor 4 unlocks Savage Weapons. No Pages 1-4; you can save up and buy the Savage weapon as soon as you have 8 Savage clear items and have beaten the 4th floor of the tier. Those and your totems now go in the Currency Tab. Currency Tab and its surrounding tabs get a UI facelift for the better.
  
  
• You can now create up to 5 custom panels which copy over whatever information you want them to, be that by category or even down to the particular item. They resize automatically to fit the content included.
  
  
• Allow us broad --but more than just the current on/off-- transparency and size settings for animations, especially those with broad contingent textures (e.g., the big, screen-filling, no-holes, non-particulate animations), or even conditional transparency such that the boss's own animation would take priority over anything beyond low-level opacity on occluding effects (in turn allowing us to play with the full vim and vigor of complete party spell animations... while still actually being able to usefully see the boss).
  
  
• Allow us emotive sets. That is to say, allow us to package difference choices in terms of poses, stances, variants on run/sprint animation, and expressions under each... into different "moods" or whatnot, such that we can easily manage how our character natively reacts/responds/affects.
  
  
• Treat zone design not just as a basic backdrop for a handful of generic kill/move/pick up/wait at quests that push along the MSQ, but instead as a sort of intricate and involved playground, ideally with things to encourage and pay off personal investment through world response (not just, say, gem rewards). Think "Living World" stuff, though in that greater, more ideal sense, instead of just the GW2 implementation.
  
  
• Better PF filters for finding and signing up for whatever content one wants. Better PF applicant page for those hosting a party/activity, with at-a-glance granular achievement histories for party applicants (showing that they've reached phase 2, phase 3, cleared, cleared multiple times, etc.). Better DF->PF integration (so I can just sign up for whatever spans of content I want, under whatever conditions, and automatically filter into the first of such parties that meet my criteria -- which can also be set such that I fill the last spot only).
  
  
• More granular difficulty selection and party size scaling, ideally with player-chosen additional challenges. (Quite opposite from, say, M+ affixes, one would instead add additional kiss-curse mechanics to the given piece of content to granularly reshape it, with full choice. No keystones. No lockouts. Just pick what content, challenges, and scaling you want, for however many people you want, of whatever roles. Some selections may, while balancing is in the works, be easier than others, but that's fine.)
  
  
• Soften the reductively narrow focuses created by role barriers. Favor the interest of actual tanking (mechanisms, regardless of role) over "brought a tank (who now exists, basically just as a DPS, thus removing tanking as any deep or interactable body/basis of mechanics)." Bring back reasons for focus fire, shared burst, etc., over just whatever nets the greatest long-term accumulation of damage. Bring back more personal responsibility in survival and deepen needs for awareness of one's team and one's environment.
  
  
• Focus on the core elements to each job, even if that means siphoning former abilities into integral passives that now affect the whole kit. Let Paladins cover (Cover) naturally with their blocks. Let Dark Knights tap into their shadow selves. Use the actual movements of Dancers as their dance, in place of the current tacked-on whack-a-mole minigame. Etc., etc.
  
  
• Get rid of gear classes and broaden the versatility of roles to which each job may be applied. In place of Aiming/Striking/Scouting/Casting/Healing/Fending/Maiming, simply create armor classes (similar to Plate, Mail, Leather, Cloth) and with the various forms across each instead providing different balances in primary stats, while allowing every job to benefit from every primary stat, though a bit differently. (Heavier armor takes on a higher Physical Power penalty, countered by Strength. Uncomfortable Armor takes on a higher Magical Power penalty, countered by Mind. In this way, tanks are still led synergetically towards Strength, and more Strength-synergetic classes towards higher physical eHP, while casters are lead more towards robes and shirts and such, though a Paladin could go off-tank/support and just don cloth armor for bigger Clemencies and Aegis Boons, while a Conjurer could don Plate and go front-line Earth Mage, etc.) Mind-heavy Monk to be used as an off-healer? Totally fine. Vitality-heavy Dragoon paired with threat-channelers in order to jump to aerial enemies to make timely escapes from tank-busters? Totally fine. Bare-chested Warrior? Let it rip. Let us play jobs, with all the reach their themes may carry, not just basic role templates. (This also has the added advantage of requiring far, far less gear hording for multi-leveling.)
  
  
• Base rewards off of time typically required. Allow there to be longer and shorter dungeons, for instance, and do not give them the same rewards. Replace Roulette flat rewards with percentile, as not to force homogenized content length across all instances of a given content type.
  
  
• Heck, replace daily Roulettes altogether, say, with daily content-completion Bonuses (for which one can, yes, choose what they want to run) and a more instance-queue-tailored "In Need" system (as to still incentivize completing parties in queue-limbo) for further bonuses. Such would provide more choice, which in turn allows for more content diversity, especially within particular content types.
  
  
• Allow content of any level to be scaled up to max. Figure out a workable formula and go for it (perhaps undertuning rewards slightly at first just while it's in that polishing/double-checks stage), including procedurally generated additional attacks/mechanics (based on other extant ones experienced by the synced-to level), rather than just releasing limited-time rehashes of only one instance at a time. It is far more worth the time to figure out a system that can automate that process such that we can eventually have back that vast trove of content (looking at you, especially, old level-cap instances) instead of just the lonely latest tier.
  
  
• Enough 'hall-boss-hall-boss-hall-boss' / 'just-swap-the-backgrounds' dungeons. Vary them up by increasing amounts, perhaps even to the point of a "dungeon" (meaning just pretty casual 12-35 minute form of handcrafted light party content) including even a more exploratory dive with some randomized components, a few-room many-waves arena or a(n air)ship defense, or practically anything else that's still decently casual and light party. That, or vary up dungeons just a little more but greatly add to the available categories and reshape the Duty Finder so that one needn't look only at one category at a time (instead looking at all the Dungeons, Trials, Assaults, Rescues, Escorts, Scavenge Missions, Forrays, and more available within one's level range).
  
  
• Better UI for the Actions and Traits, Duty Finder, and especially the Recommendations List. Make sure that newly added content, such as a new raid tier or trial or side-content, is very easy to find the unlocks for without having to check the patch notes.
  
  
• Allow us the option to place buff durations on the hotbar skills that generate (or would benefit from) those buffs, and debuff durations (for most recent enemy targeted) on the hotbars skills that generated those debuffs. For instance, if I wanted to have Bootshine, Twin Snakes, and Demolish up front and center to show my current stance, they'd also double in that they'd show me the remaining duration each on Leaden Fist, Twin Snakes, and Demolish. Riddle of Fire would at first show me the remaining duration on Riddle of Fire, showing its cooldown only after that duration has ended, etc.
  
  
• Build a simple and seriously good Relic grind model and stick with it. For instance, take the ARR Light gathering, wherein all content gives a mostly fair amount per minute and effort typically required and bonuses rotate across all level-cap instances. It stimulated community involvement, gathered players towards particular instances over each period to reduce queue times, and was incredibly free in how it allowed progression. Take that, expand on it, and run with it. Don't require a single type of content. Don't allow a single instance to be vastly more efficient. Balance as well as possible, and force rotations for the sake of variety atop that. Allow Roulettes (or, as I've recommended as a replacement, more centrally featured Challenges) to generate that resource so that alt-leveling, even, can contribute. Just open it all up, and similar to the uncapped tomes if they could actually progress one nearer to a BiS item, let players do what they enjoy while gradually progressing what they like. And, heck, start the Relics in like the x.1 patch. And if you want to include Relic armor, too, allow week-tome and Savage acquisitions to speed that along so it can't seem a waste. (Also, make each successive Relic require increasingly less time/material/etc.) It's fine for every Relic grind to just be "do what you want; play the game, and you progress the Relic" so long as there's plenty in the game to enjoy. (And if there's not, that's the real issue.)
  
  
• {Work in progress}

[MoofiaBossVal]

Customizable spell effects.

[Striker44]

Let's see
1. Yoshi move out and let some one new and fresh take over.
2.full rework of all classes in game.
3.all dungeons be used for extreme roulette ,scale up the one that need it.
4. Tank s and healers won't be as OP as they now.
That what I can think of for now as big ones.

So, completely destroy the game at the peak of its popularity just to suit your personal whims? No thanks.

[SassyAssassin]

Housing and character creator are my top priorities right now.

Implement instanced housing for the love of Tatarus food. Many of us couldn’t give two about the neighbours we don’t even see around in the first place. People hang out at the aetheryte with friends and randoms all the time, as well as anywhere in the world. The whole neighbourhood excuse is ridiculous. Sure keep those up, but allow all your paying customers to experience everything the game has to experience and that other mmos have done so for years.

Character creation, allow us to change the saturation/intensity of colors more precisely, allow us more in-depth body modifications, its weird as hell that we all look like manufactured mannequins.

Allow a mix of every feature per race instead of per face, example, face two can use lips from face one and so on.
Remove hemp style restrictions. Remove general armour restrictions except artifact.

More content between expansions.

[Ishe-P]

Hm, a sample of my fundamental changes!

- Increase the tomestone holding caps by up to 25% for each tomestone type (Poetics could probably be increased to 3000 or 4000 off the bat).
- Increase the weekly current tier tomestone cap acquisition by 200 after week 4 - 8.
- Speed up the UI ever so slightly. The number minutes of my life dedicated to inventory management is astonishingly high.
- Allow desynthesis to work in a 'checkbox' system or other means that would allow you to desynth non-stackable items in bulk.
- Adjust level syncing for jobs such that certain combos will be in line with their endgame toolset (specifically Ninja's Kassatsu->Chi->Jin combo being able to buff Hyoton before level 72). I'm not asking for abilities to be unlocked, only to adjust class feel to be more in line with the end game.
- I don't expect dungeons to evolve away from hallways (the community would simply use the optimal path if there was more than one) but there has to be some way to make them less sloggy. I just don't buy that casual players struggle with mechs and such to an extreme degree. IMO gamers tend to be lazy, not dumb.
- We need more '3D' layouts. Bosses are 2-dimensional fights that could be (and are) negotiated looking down on the arena from above. I remember seeing that mod where the game was basically given away because players could zoom all the way out and make 14 a weird void ark clone. We have a z-axis, let's use it!
- Fewer long coats please.
- More housing; I think the community would greatly appreciate more plots being added at some regular interval. It even looks like the UI was rigged to accommodate expansion.
- Fewer excuses for why stuff can't technically be done. Take risks! Innovate!
- More options at character creation. Things like new face types and voices and such would be nice.
- A less janky macro system would be nice.
- Combat could benefit from 'feeling' more responsive. As it is, the slight delay in button presses vs. action execution feels outdated and stale.
- World of Mana cross over event. I am not being biased, honest.
- A Smaller MSQ. This is personal taste showing but dang, saving the world/universe is really played out trope in vidya james especially.
- More endgame gearing options. I've seen this argument in recent threads really gain steam and won't push it any further here.

Uh that's all I have for now. I think other people said some of this stuff better. I do think if 14 continues the way it is going it will become a victim of its own success and grow stiff, stale, and profoundly uninteresting.

[Minthe]

Character creator update is desperately needed.
and please let us change our eyebrow color separate from our hair color!!

[Kozh]

Honestly I just want 3 things
- character creation overhaul
- unrestricted glams
- healer overhaul

There are tons that I still want them to change, but I'm sure people will say it's impossible, ruin the game, etc.

[rainichan]

Re: Job Stones

If it's tied to MSQ level 32, it would be required from Brayflox on. That was my post, and I had a post earlier this year that I should really necro at this point about this same issue haha. Haukke is too early since you can ding 30 in there (and it's a 28-31 dungeon iirc), but following MSQ, your next dungeon is Brayflox - a notice popping up with the required info about how the dungeon requires a job stone and where to get it would help new players who may miss the chance while questing, and a pop-up for those who maybe forget to slap their job stone into a preset can get an error saying "Cannot join queue, please equip your job stone" would help with the "oh my god I forgot to equip my job stone" that occasionally happens. They can code quests to be locked until certain requirements are met (lv5 "get actual gear" quests, "ilvl too low" errors, etc.) so they can code a "no job stone" error no issue - it's also already like that in PvP!

If people want the "challenge" or whatever to go through the story as a base class, they can run with a premade and click a ticky box to be a base class for a duty.

skill trees/loadouts are useless in a game where damage is the only thing that matters. it's an illusion of choice.

Games with skill trees look exactly the same: if you're not using this loadout for MAXIMUM DAMAGE even if you're casual, you get dropped out of groups. Similarly, games with skill trees are all the same in almost everyone picks the "best" path anyway, why bother with the skill trees in the first place?

Attach glamours / glamour plates to jobs, not to gear. ...

We kind of have this already!



I wouldn't mind an expansion on it though since some elements for it need to be changed, such as when you change to a class that shares the gear but you don't want that look, you're just... stuck with it and have to dispel the glamour. Having it dispel automatically would be great. If you already have multiple looks for a job set you can set them individually on each saved gear set and it just overwrites whatever you have depending on your job and glam plate which helps, but the ability to have a few pieces attached to a set that looks good with the base AF or whatever unglammed gear you have and everything else getting dispelled automatically (or letting us attach a dispel prism + dye to a slot) would be a chef's kiss.

[kaynide]

Most of this is on point OP.

For me, I think a lot of TLC is needed.

The physics engine needs a massive overhaul, especially regarding the jumping puzzles/hit boxes of objects in the world.
The textures need a lot of work, especially when viewed from the air. Even the newest Thavnair has awful ground texture/tiling problems.

Add more “stuff” to the world. Big maps are not that meaningful if it’s just a lot of empty space. There needs to be like…Breath of the Wild level of stuff/things happening. We are talking moving caravans or NPCs just going about their business. Or general points of interest on the road.

Have the devs sit down and play Guildwars 2. Full on. Just play for like a week, do the starter zones and walk around. See how busy their world looks and feels. See how voiced NPCs feel just talking randomly. Have them notice they’re is a guided tour going through one of the cities (that they can join), experience the general smoothness of the UI. Try a jumping puzzle, then a mini game or two. Maybe the racing game.
Don’t care about the actual story or plot..I’m talking the backend core of the game. If they could incorporate even an ounce of that, we’d be in business.

[ReynTime]

I know absolutely NONE of the things I want will happen or be liked here anyway, so I'll just say this:

In FFXIV combat, dps is everything. But when it comes to healers they keep this illusion that its not the case...which is frankly absurd.

It's past time they embrace this philosophy they've been pushing, pulling all stops. The way the combat works in XIV, healing pressure has already hit a ceiling. It makes no sense in the slightest that healers have this overabundance of healing actions when they could easily get the job done with like.. Five or less.
They need to apply a serious overhaul. Tanks are already essentially DPS with damage mitigation and high hp. Make healers DPS with tank/group healing capacity. They shouldn't be "focusing on healing then dpsing when there is nothing to do (at least half the time..). They should be about dpsing, making use of HoT or Barrier actions to allow themselves to keep their dps up and using burst heal for situations that require quick restores. Limiting to a DoT, an aoe and a ST with almost a dozen healing actions doesn't suit the battle design of this AT ALL anymore.