The more things stay the same...

[Colt47]

Well, I've given the game a few months after returning for a haitus to see how things have shaped up with the latest patch, and while nothing really stuck out as being extremely horrible, there's a lot of room for improvement. So, for those now looking at the horizon for patch 2.5 and beyond, what are the things you are hoping they either fix or change in the future?

My top list of things that feel like they need to fix or implement...
1. Bring back the story, HM, and EX model for primal fights and reward people for completing HM and EX versions. The old primal fights worked great as they iteratively introduced players to the bosses set of mechanics. That and the HM versions provided rewards for completion, so players would repeat doing them and get better at the basic move sets. Right now, the 2.4 primal just has a "story mode" and a EX mode with no real gradual introduction of the mechanics and no rewards for anything but the EX mode.

2. Fix Chocobos so we can use them in groups. AI companions are a great idea for expanding what can be done in fights and encounters for any job, and with so much focus on chocobo breeding and customization it's a crime not to do so.

3. Drop Lockouts based on previous patch content. If someone is coming back after a hiatus, the last thing they are going to want to do is be forced through content they chose NOT to do when they left just to see the newer content.

4. Stop basing content around the idea people will form statics (Ramuh EX, Coil). Statics formed because people wanted to make better use of their time, not because they wanted to have content built to ever higher difficulty standards to make sure they didn't mow through things too quickly. It would also help people with time constraints learn fights if they could just queue is the Duty Finder for some learning attempts instead of fishing for 30 minutes to an hour in PF trying to build a group themselves. The PF makes sense if someone is trying to build a party of people with prior knowledge of the fight, it makes no sense not to allow DF for simple learning.

[Phyllo]

I agree with all but the last thing you talked about in your (4), PF is for making learning parties, DF is for sure kill, or at least was intended to be.
you can't train in DF when 80% of your team comes from a different server, the moment your party breaks up you restart from scratch.

[Colt47]

I agree with all but the last thing you talked about in your (4), PF is for making learning parties, DF is for sure kill, or at least was intended to be.
you can't train in DF when 80% of your team comes from a different server, the moment your party breaks up you restart from scratch.

That's a problem with how they are designing the encounters in the first place and goes back to the fact they are only really implementing two modes now. Either people are on cruise control in story mode or have to be balls to the walls active for EX. They removed the HM mode entirely from the equation and have kept the HM moniker strictly for consistency. People could originally see the types of things the boss does from start to finish in HM mode, then have to learn a few extra things for EX, thus making DF learning completely plausible. This idea of forming a static that has to meet up for nights on end to crush content benefits nobody, including the people making the static. This is coming from someone who has been a dedicated raider for 8+ years in previous MMOs, spent tons of time on minimal drip fed content, and finding none of it is worth it in the end because eventually the game is going to grow old and all those achievements mean nothing.

[Felis]

I agree with all but the last thing you talked about in your (4), PF is for making learning parties, DF is for sure kill, or at least was intended to be.
you can't train in DF when 80% of your team comes from a different server, the moment your party breaks up you restart from scratch.

DF is more for joining a party or filling up a missing member slot.

[kyuven]

1) I agree the "story mode" EVERYTHING should have some tangible reward beyond a paltry myth bonus.
2) Chocobos are meant to supplement extra players for overworld content like fates, hunts, etc. They're not meant to replace actual players. I doubt we will EVER see chocobos usable in Duties as it goes against the nature of what MMOs are.
3) This isn't going to happen in the way you want it to. From what I can glean, SE's plan is to require playing things in order for the content update "chunk" that's currently in play. They've already said the "after coil" from 3.0 and beyond won't require coil to access, but you're simply not going to get rid of the unlock progression in this game. It's actually much easier and more fair than the lion's share of games I've seen with content locking. All you gotta do in this game is watch some cut scenes, fetch some stuff, and beat an easy-ish boss to unlock the good stuff.
4) This isn't going to happen. As Phyllo said, the PF is for training and the DF is for when it's a "sure thing." You have what each one is intended to do backwards. Granted what people ACTUALLY use them for is completely different, but that's not the way it was designed. Currently the DF is there precisely BECAUSE of what you want from #3. What you want here is so counter to the decades of MMO history it's laughable. Statics ARE how content is intended to be done. The DF is there for the same reason chocobos exist for overworld content: to supplement any deficiencies in your group. It's just most peoples' deficiencies happen to be "doesn't have a group."

[Colt47]

1)
...
4) This isn't going to happen. As Phyllo said, the PF is for training and the DF is for when it's a "sure thing." You have what each one is intended to do backwards. Granted what people ACTUALLY use them for is completely different, but that's not the way it was designed. Currently the DF is there precisely BECAUSE of what you want from #3. What you want here is so counter to the decades of MMO history it's laughable. Statics ARE how content is intended to be done. The DF is there for the same reason chocobos exist for overworld content: to supplement any deficiencies in your group. It's just most peoples' deficiencies happen to be "doesn't have a group."

I think your logic is backwards. You are saying that "the designers designed it this way so it shouldn't change... even though people aren't using it this way..." You do realize the point is to design things that meet the needs of the audience, right? If people are using something in a way that is unexpected, the designer doesn't shoehorn those people to use it as expected they change it so that it fits the use case.

[Phyllo]

I totally get what you mean but honestly, if you are alone and go to DF you don't really expect to train there, you usually go there cuz you expect the kill (now I mean, back in 2.0/2.1 trying a trial on DF was for everything but the kill xD newcomers have it easy with their relic now xD)

True, but the problem is that it's in human nature to avoid complications, if there's a loose end in how they designed it, be sure people will use it.

[Elven]

Getting people to do old content is always a hard thing to do especially if you've been gone awhile. They just need to change the rewards to match the content at the time. Since allied seals are all the rave right now put them in the primal ex fights etc... Or other loot that would lure people back and the game becomes lively again.

[Felis]

DF is not here to find a training party or experienced party. For both there exist PF.
DF is here to find fast 7 or 3 other random players and nothing more

[Shneibel]

I believe the dificult of EM mode for levi & ramuh is around the difficult of HM. I would like to have primal story, Hm and EM again