A comparison of combat content in Endwalker.

[Kaurhz]

The amount of content never really changes too drastically between expansions, bar the dropping of dungeons (Which I personally think is better) - It's just a matter of how it is dispersed and utilized. E.g., if V&C dungeons were in some way tied to the relic or had more substantial rewards / incentivization for solo play with a system as flushed out as logos/essences then you would take great milestones to solving a lot of the problems people do have.

Similarly, one of Island Sanctuary's biggest issues is that it is:
1. Tied to end-game story completion rather than something that can be picked up
2. It is a self-contained system in that nigh on everything you get from it is only usable within Island Sanctuary - It's a shame they couldn't actually tie in the crafting and gathering system with this - It would have been a lot more substantial for arguably something that could have been a relatively minor direction change.

I would say one of the biggest issues with any expansion is that x must always come at the expense of y.

[Blossoming]

The amount of content never really changes too drastically between expansions, bar the dropping of dungeons (Which I personally think is better) - It's just a matter of how it is dispersed and utilized. E.g., if V&C dungeons were in some way tied to the relic or had more substantial rewards / incentivization for solo play with a system as flushed out as logos/essences then you would take great milestones to solving a lot of the problems people do have.

Similarly, one of Island Sanctuary's biggest issues is that it is:
1. Tied to end-game story completion rather than something that can be picked up
2. It is a self-contained system in that nigh on everything you get from it is only usable within Island Sanctuary - It's a shame they couldn't actually tie in the crafting and gathering system with this - It would have been a lot more substantial for arguably something that could have been a relatively minor direction change.

I would say one of the biggest issues with any expansion is that x must always come at the expense of y.

I think that was one of my biggest gripes with sanctuary island was the lack of including the existing gathering and crafting classes into it, kind of was surprised about that tbh

[Boblawblah]

I think that was one of my biggest gripes with sanctuary island was the lack of including the existing gathering and crafting classes into it, kind of was surprised about that tbh

That was part of the point, to allow players that didn't have crafters/gatherers to participate in the IS. It's a positive thing in my opinion.

[Blossoming]

That was part of the point, to allow players that didn't have crafters/gatherers to participate in the IS. It's a positive thing in my opinion.

Yes the island automated by mammets which ends up being another thing you don’t have to actively play is another brilliant move by SE!

[Boblawblah]

Yes the island automated by mammets which ends up being another thing you don’t have to actively play is another brilliant move by SE!

So many flavours you have to choose from

[Kaurhz]

That was part of the point, to allow players that didn't have crafters/gatherers to participate in the IS. It's a positive thing in my opinion.

See, there are a few solutions to this, really...

1. Don't gate the content behind requiring that you have leveled them exorbitantly. Ishgard Restoration had a nice balance in that provided you were level 20, you essentially had access to everything. They could have even still retained the situation of everything practically being non-tradeable. In this regard, you could simply pick it up at level 1 and use it as a vehicle for levelling - I don't think this is inherently bad either since you incentivise people to pick up another piece of content they may not have otherwise put their feet into.

2. Have it so that Mammets can act as an intermediary wherein you can take the trade-off on whether you want to submit items for crafting or whether you want to craft them yourself, that way it takes nothing from the experience of those who want it to act as a self-contained system or those that want to see a measurable benefit.

Then again, their obsessive need to gate absolutely everything behind a weekly/daily is equally more as damaging to the experience, because ultimately the core of the content outside of leveling is reduced to logging in and doing a daily. Don't get me wrong though, I like Island Sanctuary and it has as much potential as exploratory content if I were being honest, but they just missed the mark by not allowing players to have a degree of choice in how they approached.

[Edit] That's enough of my tangent though, I wanted to include this in my original post because still an interesting talking point.

[CelestiCer]

I think that was one of my biggest gripes with sanctuary island was the lack of including the existing gathering and crafting classes into it, kind of was surprised about that tbh

I actually feel same way about this even if this is not combat related