Simplicity over complexity, time to change.

[Kazama]

Not sure if it is something you are wanting, but ARR already kind of has a horizontal system. One patch offering the new tier of content (vertical), then the next patch offering more content to obtain that said tier content (horizontal)

By that logic 2.2 offers i110 gear and 2.3 should have also been i110 but it's not. Ramuh is i100 as is Syrcus Tower. Regardless, it doesn't matter because 2.4 will release i115 or i120 causing us to completely re-gear again. In a horizontal progression the system doesn't have you replacing every piece of gear every 3 months. Instead, it may replace a few or a single piece if even. It could even offer no new gear and instead just open up a long quest arc or potentially add new skills along with the other content they provide. Basically, this vertical method they are using requires them to add one new raid every patch and that just isn't sustainable or engaging to most veteran players as it immediately invalidates everything prior to it even for new players. Same with the token system, I just leveled a second account yet I completely skipped CT, Dungeons, First coils and Myth gear almost entirely.

Was more for the sake of example. Dynamis is a more comparable event to raids. However, imagine how long some content in FFXI would be if you could of just kept hitting a DF button to keep going in and trying till you win without the consequence of Level Downs and having to gather the items. FFXI was difficult in that you needed to be highly prepared to take on content, while FFXIV you learn to overcome the content by constantly practicing till you get the flow of the pattern. Difficulty in general can be given in various forms and I don't exactly like to compare the two because they both approach it differently.

Yeah I knew exactly where you were coming from. XI added challenge and difficulty by adding ramifications for failing. Either you had a time limit and a lockout or it required an accumulated entry and if you failed you had to wait or go farm more pop/entry items. I love that method of spacing out content personally. I know this isn't everyone's cup-o-tea, all I am suggesting is a happy medium where it's not endlessly bashing your head against a fight until you win only to have it become antiquated 3 months later.

That is MMO's in general for you. There is not one game (despite using WoW as a blueprint or not) that people won't play for just a few months then go straight to the next thing. ARR is no exception to this and the development team are fully aware that the numbers would drop after a few months to a more steady pace. Most developers for MMO's anticipate that. Sorry to see that your FC isn't as active, but FC's i'm in or ones I interact with are still going very strong and active.

It's one thing to anticipate a hype loss early on in a game sure but to blatantly ignore a large chunk of an already dedicate fanbase is another. It's pretty universally known that customer retention is among the most critical factors in a service driven model yet SE is intent on continuing to draw in more numbers at the cost of existing ones. Most likely to capitalize on the retail cost of the game and as many simultaneous subs as possible for his bosses to see black on their 2014 earnings. Then maybe once they have saturated the market and are forced to change to a retention model we might see more things the players ask for.

Hmm... I really don't see many original Convction members on anymore. At least not the ones I knew from 1.0, maybe they hide? Our FC isn't AS active but it is still active, it's got a lot of very long term XI/XIV 1.x players holding it up still. But, the word around the cooler, many of us are reserving final judgement for 3.0 and if it doesn't resolve at least some of the linearity and overly excessive hand holding it very well may be duty complete for good.

[Kazama]

I'm still, after many months, unable to comprehend this. Can someone please enlighten me as to why we still can't send tells during instances? I cannot, for the life of me, find a logical explanation as to why this was even implemented in the first place. We're able to freely talk to people via LS + FC during instances, yet we're unable to send tells...

It's actually because of the instance server. Technically speaking you are on another world. It's a really piss poor excuse considering most MMOs use a separate instance server but it's the one they have given.