First off, for those that don't know what TotM is, it's a system for upgrading weapons and gear in FFXI that makes you undertake trials/challenges to upgrade your stuff step-by-step.
Think of it like the Relic Reborn quests, only with 20x content and magnitude.
Here's a quick example of how it worked in FFXI.
From what I can see at the moment, FFXIV's playerbase seems to be split into two major groups; hardcore endgamers who finish their weekly goals by Monday night, and casual gamers who complain that a lot of content is too hard and that there isn't enough casual content.
Magian trials would honestly solve both groups' problems.
Everyone who played FFXI took part of it, whether you hated or loved it, it gave you long term goals to set. The best part? Choices.
If you're not part of an endgame FC that can take on the bigger stuff frequently, you can pick the easier trials that ask you to kill # mobs to proceed, and you can settle for 2nd or 3rd best weapon, for example.
Those who don't want to take part in the tedious trials can simply not, they'll still have the other content that drops alternate gear.
The good thing about this system (from SE's side) is that they seriously wouldn't even need to add much content for it to work, they have everything already set up. All they need to do is add an NPC or two to get the quests going and expand on the current selection of weapons and gear.
Plus it would fit in nicely with a vertical progression system, as they could add new trials for new ilvls.
Perhaps this would also be a good chance to introduce new stats that stray away from this bland selection that we're stuck with right now.
And please have an open mind while replying, I'm not saying it should be exactly the same system, it would be tweaked to fit FFXIV and it's playerbase, obviously. I'd bet most would likely tire themselves out cursing if they saw they had to kill 400 Morbols, for instance.
TL;DR
Bring back this awesome system, SE![]()