What I'd like to see is the gear refresh be streched to 12 months with multiple side-by-side ways to get gear in the next ilvl range. Now what I mean:


1) HARD 4 man dungeons - this should drop gear equiv to tome gear without upgrades and without an upgrade path - but this should be hard - tank, dps, healer checks and mechanics checks and coordination checks(I'd say 2 per patch is what I'd like to see here)

2) 8 man raid(aka coil equiv) - this would still be top tier gear - possibly expanded to 8 tiers instead of 4.

3) 16 man raid - this would be something that would be a stepping stone to the 8 man raid - showing off some of the mechanics in the 8 man while at the same time making it slightly less of a challange - this should drop gear equiv to half upgraded tome gear(i.e. if max is 130 and tome is 120 this would be 125) - this should be between 8 and 24 man in terms of difficulty - a few checks here and there but something that 2 good teams can work through if they communicate - and spliting teams and so on I think is a must here - let's say same lockout as the 8 man - i.e. once cleared no more loot for you - but you can help others - this should possibly be 3-4 tiers to progress through - and I'd throw in mazes, puzzles, riddles, finding items, etc... in here(RNG heavy on what you need to find, where to find, etc... multiple riddles and puzzles that get picked from a larger pool - not just the sastasha nm you read the note and pick that colour but actually something that is lore related or world related to figure out)

I think an interesting idea for 16 man would be exploring the eorzean subterra or other cave systems, maybe some castrum as well, a dragons lair etc...

4) 24 man raid - this would be the current casual raid - this drops gear equiv to tome gear without upgrades and without an upgrade path - same lockout 1 piece of gear per week

5) tome gear + upgrades
6) crafted - this works as it is

But all of these should be alive side-by-side(as much as possible - I could see staggering the 16 man and 24 man by a month or two to keep people interested and not bored - as much as I hate catchup I think with 12 months cycles it would be needed)); and all but the 8 man have a tiny tiny chance of dropping upgrade catalysts/weapon token for the tome gear. The 8 man like now will drop it after a certain tier is reached.

I'd also love less stack on arse and burn fights. I love t7 it requires positioning and coordination as does T9. T8 and T6 are probably the most boring fights out there sit still and burn for the most part(shiva ex is a lot like this as well sadly).

I'm sure others can add more input on such things. Just wanted to be constructive.