How would you improve ARR

[Dannythm]

After seeing many arguments in many threads, I've decided to create this one.

I don't care if you liked or disliked WoW, 1.0, XI or whatever, what is clear is that we all on a certain degree like the game and want to see it become better, so, I ask for everyone who feels some kind of passion towards this game, given the foundation that we have now, what would you do to improve ARR?

And for a start, here are some of my ideas:

Two of the most powerful concepts in ARR are the Armory System and the game's Accessibility, but ultimately it feels that even with the great job the game does to teach players it's mechanics, then down the road it does little so the player has to think and sole problems with that knowledge, so with this I think the following changes would keep he game accessible, but add some depth to it:

• Make the lvl15+ open world more dangerous. This change could even be explained with the in game lore "After Dalamud fell Eorzea suffered and it's inhabitants were still weak, but as time passes they regain their former strength". And by dangerous I mean stronger mobs, but not so much players can't solo them, just enough that you have to actually use your class or job to defeat them, so you'd die if you don't focus a little. Gatherers shouldn't be affected by this change because they already die if they are spotted by mobs, and part of their class fun is using invis. This change should also make farming world mobs a viable option for leveling, so people could level doing FATE, doing instances or farming mobs. Having options should never be bad.
• Add some open world dungeons or elite areas. This concept was one of the things I liked the most in SWToR, and it would make sense in ARR too, in the castrums or the beastmen strongholds. This would also give good places to go with our chocobo buddies to level them up and feel they have an actual use in the game, and are not just a gimmick.
• Add the option to make the chocobos carry some of our load. Add some crafts for weaver or leather worker to make bags that we could equip in our chocobos as barding, but make it so it cannot fight or be used as mount while in this state. Also the load should be transferred manually from their inventory by the player having their chocobo summoned. Could even make different kinds of bags, some that can only carry weapon or gear, others only crafting materials.
• Give some content for max level classes. Having the world more dangerous, it would mean that more survivability and flexibility would be needed to accomplish things when going in the open world, and that is exactly what classes give, in this way everything presented by the game should be used by the players, meaning jobs would be best fit for instances and raids, and classes for the open world.
  • In addition to this, classes would need their high level gear, and this could be an edge to boost crafters, so the jobs gear would be the drops in the instances and raids, but the equal level gear for classes with stats more suited for classes could be done by crafting.
• Increase player synergies. This would work similarly to how skill chains or battle regime did, but far easier. For example, if a Marauder/Warrior inflicted a mob with Storm's Eye and withing the first 3 seconds of the debuff a Lancer/Dragoon delivered a Disembowel hit, they could skillchain and create a greater debuff like "Armor break" or something which enhanced both effects but 5%. This would work with the actual systems giving an edge and extra tool for the coordinated groups to work with, but won't make it mandatory to be used to finish any encounters.
• Add interesting materias. It could really spice the game and metagame if we could get some interesting materias like 1% of performing a dobule hit, or 5% chance that regen will lat 15% more but cost 25% more mana, and so on. The dropped gear should be made meldable for this to work though.
• Improve FATEs. Add some more depth to certain fates, so players have more reasons to do them as high level and not just for atma or seals, like the ones where you end up controlling an outpost and then having to defend it, could be done to certain area sin the game, but with the inclusion that if players seize control of that area of the map they gain access to some crafting materials that are needed for the high level class gear and not obtainable otherwise (just an example).
• Bring back Hamlet defense. Nothing to add here.

These are some of the ideas, those are not some radical changes, but additions that won't change the game fundamentally but I think it will add some of the depth and sense of adventure some of us miss so much. I would also bring back the separate physical lavel and class/jobs levels (because it makes sense not to be suddenly weaker when I change to conjurer if I'm already a level 50 warrior) and gaining experience while you fight, and not just at the end of the fight, then again, because it makes more sense to actually improve while you fight and not just after you are done, and you'd still get exp even if you die and not kill the mob.

Also, expanding on increasing the sense of danger and the addition of elite areas int eh open would I think this would work very well to help us relate with the characters in the story, because so far we are told the realm is in danger (the garleans, the beast tribes, the primals, the ascisians, the old allagans) but I don't think anyone playing felt fear or any actual danger, or even that the enemies where dangerous at all. Increasing the strength of the game would actually improve the story telling because you would not only know that the realm is in danger because you are old it is, you would feel it, if you need to watch out when you see a lvl 49 Ixali in the forest and you take a sweat and a chocobo to kill it you would think "these guys mean business, I know why the other characters are worried" and you would feel the threat yourself. Also then the sense of accomplishment when you complete the story and do certain content will certainly improve if you had the sense that the threat was real, and not had only been told that there was a threat.

Please try to keep the thread civil and not make an argument of XI vs WoW vs EQ vs ARR vs whatever, just bring ideas that you think they could improve the game, regardless of their origin or source of inspiration.

Let's give the devs some ideas to work with (not that they don't have them already, but they can see in this thread some of what the players want).