First off, I greatly appreciate the sheer amount of content & work put into this update.
Despite this, there are still plenty of bothersome changes, and a handful of absent changes which ought have been expedited or handled differently IMO.
This' all in the interest of bettering the game, I hope SE not think me complaining or belittling them.
Atma's - I am bothered by the 13,500 myth requirement to advance (which you can't even begin to spend on until after all Atma's have been obtained). I say reduce the req. to 9k & let us purchase the books in advance. I don't mind the Atma grind itself. Bonus: while I don't mind the grind, I would find it better if SE made FATE's more interesting (adding legitimate mechanics to many of the bosses, perhaps make some like fighting an actual dungeon boss & etc.)
Challenge Log - a nice addition but poorly implemented. It's more like a chore log, I appreciate the bonuses but I'd hoped for reasons to revisit content apart from some gil/sub-50 exp. Dungeon Challenge entries should've been like "kill Caduceus without feeding" or "beat Garuda Hard with both sisters alive" etc. Clearly poor examples but you get my point.
Chocobo's - mount whilst summoned, great! Still no Chocobo during queue & no respec. Frankly, I feel these implementations are absurdly long over due now. Also, highly disappointed there's no "jumping on" animation. I would've loved to see Mi'qotes hopping on leapfrog style from behind or Lalafell's skittering up the side.
Crafters - they really need to reverse the policy on crafting not having a legitimate place in the end-game. The cost & the work it takes even just to earn the ability to craft i90 gear (which' effectively the new raider's bottom-tier) is ludicrous, especially when you consider how jokishly easy it is to farm BC 1-5 now. The gear will practically outdate itself nigh-immediately. And that's just scratching the surface.
Dungeons - love the new environments & bosses. Dislike that a number of the boss mechanics are rehashed from other dungeons (*cough* AV boss 2 & WP boss 1 *cough*). Dislike [SPOILER]howdiablodoesn'tsayanythingandissurelydead[ENDSPOILER]. Dislike how none of these 4-mans present hardly any challenge to the previous end-gamers (i70's & up can steam-roll these dungeons so easily). Dislike how all the gear is useless to most end-gamers. Dislike how easy it is to train-wreck all the trash still (spare perhaps the last few pulls of LRoA). Please implement Extreme Dungeons ASAP SE (drop alternative i80-85 pieces) that are absurdly hard & actually require strategy to down the trash (instead of entirely altering the dungeons, you could just a) up the mob count, b) up the mob mechanics/stats, & c) utilize the same bosses & up their mechanics/stats).
Glamour - great but unnecessarily complex. What was to be an exciting feature has become overly convoluted & downright messy... not to mention unintuitive. Also, Odin Armor.
Party Sort - nice, thanks SE. However, still no FC/LS member sorting?! And no Company Chest Sort.
Retainers - give us a third baseline, that is all. I can deal with paid retainers, I can deal with spenders having a greater market advantage, I can't deal with you guys adding SO much extra inventory into the game & not providing additional inventory by default. Inventory was already bloated pre-2.2, and a severe burden/hassle... now it's a complete nightmare. As well, for Ventures, for the love of god let us equip them from their inventory instead of forcing us to first withdraw all the equipment we wish to apply to them.
Tank Mounts - non-retroactive, are you kidding me? Sorry but this was highly insulting I feel. Up and coming tanks were already incentivized, I feel current tanks should have been awarded their lot (or at least, their due progress on it).
MINOR SPOILERS
Main Story - the exposition/travel has gotten out of hand. I did all that go back & forth from Vesper Bay constantly during the lowbie story... I also served my time being the errand boy & completing fetch quests. To top it all off: long unskippable cutscenes to unlock the dances & being required to fulfill a ridiculously silly, long, & annoying (imo) side-story to unlock Trials Roulette (Gilgamesh - Hildebrand).
It's just very hard to appreciate all the fluffy dialogue when the threat feels rehashed & is unpronounced. Or when 99% of the dialogue is non- imperative or full of unnecessary exposition/pleasantries. Leviathan was barely featured (instead we perfumed Chocobo's & played Hide n Go Seek)... he said next-to-nothing with no voiceover... the story was primarily filler & then simply another "oh no a Primal is being called back & we have to stop it", apart from a few extremely minor hints/tidbits.
Turns 6-8 will surely be a different story... but Leviathan was more of the big story feature in a sense ("The Maelstrom") & I feel the mark was sorely missed.
SPOILERS END
Please chime in with your additions/opinion!