Dungeons: Make them less linear! FFXIV:ARR doesn't have to be a themepark!

[Litre]

First off I want to start with a complaint, then get into my idea to at least alleviate some of the issues brought up by my complaint.

So lets make another thread about this themepark, it's my main complaint and has become more glaring as Yoshi is still going in this direction.
Not a new complaint, many others have touched on this in other posts.

Now for the most part I think FFXIV is a great game, it has its main & job storylines and decent mechanics and graphics, but after you finish those it's a themepark of end-game dungeons just like any other MMO out there (GW2, AION, RIFT, WoW, etc...)
I get it, casual players like it and this is the direction all MMOs are going because that's where the money is, that's fine. But what about us FF fans who want longevity? When the casual flock of players get bored they will move on to WildStar, ESO or whatever is on the horizon.
But I know a lot of us are here because of FFXI, or just FF and have great memories of FF because they were all magical worlds that had character, soul, experiences and things to explore!
But the current FFXIV as it stands is just a tiny themepark, almost free teleports and easy mobs in the open world don't help either, but that's a complaint for another time.


The first thing that needs to be changed are the dungeons, or at least make new dungeons that are less linear and more unpredictable than the current ones, what do I mean by this?

1. Having more patrolling mobs and super strong mobs that you can barely kill patrol too. This would force people to go around a section sometimes or least take a different route, maybe some sections would branch and you'd pick the route without the scary monster that 1 hits you.
If you do have to fight, in FFXI it was really fun because people learned special sections where it was safer to fight so a patrolling mob didn't crash the party and wipe you, and still it happened, but it was fun!)

2. Trap doors, sections that you need to disarm or know how to bypass, I know there are some special mechanics in the current dungeons but the penalties are not harsh enough (more on this later, see #######)

3. Optional bosses that don't spawn every time (maybe have to go down a different path to get there, so you have to go off the beaten path to check on it)

4. Rare drops from normal mobs off the beaten path! Because why not go down the dead end with pointless normal mobs for the chance of a rare item, maybe hang out in a dungeon and chat with the people you randomly got grouped with? Perhaps they're on the same server or if you're in a pre-made better yet!


Now I know some people will whine about how they can't farm the dungeons anymore (see how badly they ruined Brayflox HM?) but isn't that the whole point? Aren't dungeons meant to be fun and exciting, shouldn't I look forward to going in every time not knowing what adventure it'll be like this time? With these changes you can sort of achieve that.
Also when you die, I know harsh death penalties are a thing of the past, but at least make weakness ACTUALLY weak, so that the dungeon will take 5-10 extra mins to complete.


#######DEATH PENALTY
Ok old topic, but this needs to be addressed, I know modern MMOs have low death penalties and that's ok! I have no issue with the current low gil cost of death, it's an ok compromise, my life is busy too I don't want to go back to exp loss etc...
But what really needs to be fixed is weakness!!! They have it totally opposite, if I raise someone they should have less weakness, if you wipe and everyone has to respawn at the start you should have a way higher weakness penalty that would limit you
from easily clearing normal mobs. It's infuriating the attitude we have now, "oh we screwed up, lets just all die and get 100% HP/stats and come back." I mean if the mobs respawned then yes starting from the beginning would suck, and so you should be back to 100%, but mobs don't respawn
and it's faster to run back to where you died? Wtheck?

Now this weakness should be ONLY A DUNGEON DEATH PENALTY, if you're doing trials or coil, then yea you should respawn with 100% stats. But they can't have 100% HP/stats after a wipe AND no mob respawns AND a shortcut teleport, one or two of these would be ok though.
So either make it so when we wipe we start at the beginning with a REAL DEBUFF and no mob respawns + shortcut teleport, or give us 100%, but force us to fight our way back a bit (maybe teleport part way but not all the way to where we died).

In FFXI when we aggroed too many mobs, or someone died, we'd try to fight to the end because wipes were worse. Instead they have flipped it around and noone tries anymore! Some of the best memories of FFXI I have are when we
fought through 3-5 mob adds when we should have died and at the end everyone was out of mana and barely alive, but we lived and we all really bonded through those moments.

I know these are fundamental changes, so maybe they should just be for some select dungeons, but I for one see no appeal to grinding Brayflox HM for tombs and would be a lot more interested in a dungeon with some variety. In fact if FFXIV continues on the path it is now, it's going to be harder and harder to come back to a world that I have no lasting memories about.