Quote Originally Posted by Elissar View Post
I imagine the next gen of MMORPGs as something between FFXIV, Guild wars 2 and Lord of the Rings Online: open dungeons, strong optional narrative, epic music, open exploration, open world progression, minimal loading screens, respect for the trinity (tank, healer, DPS), classes/jobs identities are preserved, choices that affect outcomes in side quests...all while keeping instance contents relevant like we have now. FFXIV could learn a thing or two from Lost Ark. Right now, MMORPGs are just fine convincing people that they don't have to waste their lives to progress (creating casual friendly content), however, now they need to make it fun again.
Problem with open dungeons is not being able to control how difficult the content is. Take hunts in FFXIV, designed for a party or alliance to fight and people just bring 100 to melt them. They aren't scaled for that many at all. Then they could sync your power level or their power level accordingly, but then you have the argument that gear progression no longer matters.

The benefit of required narrative is making you care about the world. Frankly, when I look at games like New World or Ashes of Creation, I simply don't care. I have no attachment to their world. Story helps to create that.