SE enough of the treadmill, please make the game more interesting!

[MageBlack]

Golden Saucer is coming! Chocobo racing/breeding, Snowboarding mini-game, Triple Triad, etc will hopefully give you the diversions you are looking for. I know I am really looking forward to it!

[Prototype909]

The ultimate problem is that Coil is designed to be the end all, be all instance, but actually reaching that point doesn't really take very long. Players who are supremely dedicated to raiding reach the "peak" of the game too fast, and once you're there basically everything else just becomes a game of "How relevant is this compared to Coil, how does this help me if I'm already clearing Coil, what here is a substitute for Coil". A few weeks from now after people can start getting Poetics accessories that will have been the basic lifespan of Shiva EX - once people have the luxury of just buying a i120 piece that fight loses about half of its appeal - for people who are clearing Coil and getting Poetics Accessory upgrades it might already have none.

Like you can basically divide the game's content into "These are the fights that are relevant if you can clear Coil (Which at the moment are Shiva, for now, and...4 man dungeons to hit cap" and "These are the fights that are relevant if you can't". There's nothing fundamentally wrong with this because eventually one fight will end up being "The goal", but the fact that there's only one tier of content even in that stratosphere is a bit concerning, especially when all the gear eventually becomes vanity after 6 months.

All the other side content in the game (To me at least) barely feels fulfilling. Beastman Dailies, FATEs, Leves, Guildhests (lol), 4 Man Dungeons, they're all just mindless zergs and time wasters packaged up in different ways rather than something I would actually WANT to do, unfortunately at least in the case of 4 Man Dungeons SE basically forces you to care about them even if clearing them is basically a formality rather than something that requires effort at this point.

[Velhart]

People keep preaching the problems, but offer a worse solution. Should try not looking back at FFXI's outdated mechanics that would hurt the game more and think how you can improve on systems currently in place. Then again, majority of people complaining in here are once FFXI players and don't remember actually how much not fun a lot of the events and grinding was. I'm going to get flak just for pulling the rose tinted glasses card out.

People say that horizontal progression is better. I would argue that it helps nothing. The same BiS sets are going to exist, 95% of the gear end game will be irrelevant because the 5% of it will be the BiS and groups will require you to have it before joining their group. It happened in FFXI, don't pretend it didn't. Funny how many DPS I saw not get invited because they used a regular Haubergeon and not a +1, or no O.Kote. While vertical progression may have flaws in it's own right, it at least give a sense of empowerment and the feeling that your character is growing per piece you put on you. How good does it feel to do that 100 more damage to a mob after getting a better weapon? It feels very good.

People say that SE needs to break the mold on MMO mechanics. It has in many ways without shaking up the formula, and sometimes that is all that is needed. Shouldn't put the Final Fantasy series on a pedestal of originality in mechanics. The first one alone used blue prints from Dragon Quest to create it's game, and became it's own franchise in the process. It used a formula everyone was familiar with and added it's own thing to it with a great story, jobs, solid mechanics. FFXI used Everquest as a blueprint and made their own thing from it, and FFXIV used WoW as a blueprint and made their own thing from it. You can not agree or like it if you want, but that is how Final Fantasy has stayed successful since 1987. Presentation and tweaks to familiar systems is what has kept FF the power house it is for so long.

Not to mention, Heavensward from what little we have been given has already shown that major changes are happening. So i'll wait and see what happens.

[Prototype909]

People say that horizontal progression is better. I would argue that it helps nothing. The same BiS sets are going to exist, 95% of the gear end game will be irrelevant because the 5% of it will be the BiS and groups will require you to have it before joining their group. It happened in FFXI, don't pretend it didn't. Funny how many DPS I saw not get invited because they used a regular Haubergeon and not a +1, or no O.Kote. While vertical progression may have flaws in it's own right, it at least give a sense of empowerment and the feeling that your character is growing per piece you put on you. How good does it feel to do that 100 more damage to a mob after getting a better weapon? It feels very good.

1)Gear discrimination or just player-base discrimination in general already happens, you're just as likely to get booted from a fight for not outputting enough DPS numbers or not being able to 100% deal with mechanics. It's dependent on the players involved.
2) Player-base discrimination shouldn't be the basis for not releasing more content, even if there's 1 BiS set not everyone is going to be able to get it and ultimately concessions will be made, just not by the most elite of players (Which is fine and expected)
For example in XI, if I can't clear Dynamis I can just go to Sky and try to get drops there, if I can't clear Sky I can go to Limbus and try to get drops there, if I can't X, I can Y. Or if I have multiple end game shells I could do all of the above, or any combination of end-game events.
3) Despite all of XI's problems it did just as many other things well - even exemplary, there are negatives in every game but it's about how that player views them against the positives. I'd rather have a breadth of content with a high barrier (With lots of lesser content predating it), than a selection of content that's shallow in both floor and ceiling just because "We're afraid playerbase might become douches" when in many cases the players in question are already exhibiting those behaviors

Also 100 damage on a mob? I don't care if I'm doing 500 damage or 600 damage as long as stuff is dying (Which in most cases, it's going to die regardless because most of the content in this game is outgeared on release), and unless it's some critical DPS check like cutting edge Coil turns chances are you can just deal with mechanics and still clear so long as nobody dies. In my book its either you clear or you don't, it doesn't matter if it happens 5% sooner or 5% later than what is expected of a group. I didn't feel stronger or empowered when I got my HA blade, I just thought "Ok, now time to work towards immediately getting rid of this because it's expected of me".

[Velhart]

1)Gear discrimination or just player-base discrimination in general already happens, you're just as likely to get booted from a fight for not outputting enough DPS numbers or not being able to 100% deal with mechanics. It's dependent on the players involved.

I never said it didn't. Read again, I said horizontal is no better.

2) Player-base discrimination shouldn't be the basis for not releasing more content, even if there's 1 BiS set not everyone is going to be able to get it and ultimately concessions will be made, just not by the most elite of players (Which is fine and expected)

You would be surprised the list of factors developers have to consider when making new gear and content. Especially a horizontal one where balance can be easily broken by simply one piece of gear.

For example in XI, if I can't clear Dynamis I can just go to Sky and try to get drops there, if I can't clear Sky I can go to Limbus and try to get drops there, if I can't X, I can Y. Or if I have multiple end game shells I could do all of the above, or any combination of end-game events.

Sounds familiar. Ohh I can't beat Shiva and get the sword? Well i'll just go to ST, get a Sands of Time, Unmarked Allagan Tomestone, and 1300 Soldiery and buy one. Ohh or wait, I can keep doing my Zodiac quest and get one there. I need to build up my gear also, I can go do dungeon grinding, Hunts, Coils, Primals, or craft it.

3) Despite all of XI's problems it did just as many other things well - even exemplary, there are negatives in every game but it's about how that player views them against the positives. I'd rather have a breadth of content with a high barrier (With lots of lesser content predating it), than a selection of content that's shallow in both floor and ceiling just because "We're afraid playerbase might become douches" when in many cases the players in question are already exhibiting those behaviors

High barrier content already exists. Find how many players are in Final Coil right now. The answer is, not as much as you think. Creating too high of a barrier on several pieces of content makes it ultimately less appealing to the majority of players, and would eventually just become a niche game. People want to experience the content, and want the difficulty of the fights themselves to be the determining factor of their progression, not heavily built consequences to keep you away from it.

Also 100 damage on a mob? I don't care if I'm doing 500 damage or 600 damage as long as stuff is dying (Which in most cases, it's going to die regardless because most of the content in this game is outgeared on release), and unless it's some critical DPS check like cutting edge Coil turns chances are you can just deal with mechanics and still clear so long as nobody dies. In my book its either you clear or you don't, it doesn't matter if it happens 5% sooner or 5% later than what is expected of a group. I didn't feel stronger or empowered when I got my HA blade, I just thought "Ok, now time to work towards immediately getting rid of this because it's expected of me".

That doesn't really fly, especially in the DPS community. You should always strive to reach the levels that your skills are capable of despite if the fight is a DPS check or not. Also you prove my point saying you want more after your HA blade. Empowerment is quite a thing.

[Deathscythe343]

This is something that I have actually talked about with several people. Each time I find myself going back to the same example, Evrquest's Alternate Advancement system or AA. This was something that allowed players to gain xp that would net he/she points to spend to further improve their characters beyond just getting the best gear possible. http://everquest.allakhazam.com/db/aaskills.html. This link should give people a basic understanding of the system.

In every MMO that I have played since EQ, I have wanted to see a similar system in those games. Consider the amount of times players run dungeons, fates, leves, raids and have the xp earned in that time spent is essentially deleted from the system. Why not have it go some where? Why not give players a reason to keep endlessly grinding dungeons, fates, leves, and raids at max level?

[thepalehunter]

I've loved FFXIV so far, but I have to echo OP's point that things are getting pretty stale. For me it's the combat (very repetitive AOE dodging on pretty much every boss fight in every dungeon) and lack of an explorable world. This latter point really bugs me - so many invisible walls, unscalable cliffs, unreachable peaks, unnavigable rivers... some modern examples of RPGs getting exploration right are Skyrim, DA:I, Guild Wars 2. FFXIV gives the impression each zone is a little bowl-shaped skybox you can't get out of. Modern RPG's should reward exploration, not prohibit it.

[Maero]

Too much new gear to quickly is what i think and content that really does not need it.
And really none of this gear is needed at all unless you do coil and such. Soldiery gear was not out all that long until they came out with the new gear.
People really do not get how much easier it is to gear up now then what it used to be

[Kallera]

I'm not going to believe they'll change this now. I feel like I have waited long enough, and the changes won't be as earth shattering as believed. Rather, it will be the same stuff. Just more of it at once to look new.

I do think this is a ongoing problem, though. One that makes the experience seem more like an addiction when trying to go through it. It used to be just the df and battle classes with this issue. Now its all aspects of play, the housing, the crafts, the gathering. Its tedium all they way through, and shameless tedium.

[Jynx]

To be honest following the story quests you wont even really need any early game 50+ gear to hit those level caps set for something simple like ST. It's what Ilvl 70? Considering you a required to run through Crystal Tower to unlock it the players allready have a avenue to Ilvl80 gear suppliment that with purchasable Ilvl 70 gear being fairly cheap these days and you can probably steamroll past all the early game dungeons aside from story quest requirements.