Fun for Non-Combat Classes - What do you want?

[Maiandra]

I like a lot of the suggestions in the opening posts, especially field work and cooperative ventures. A greater variety of activities would alleviate much of the tedium.

Having local leve-quests include dropping off finished items at camps is an obvious balance to avoid DoH having significantly more anima than anyone else. Instead of going out to a camp just for the sake of leaving the town, there should be something meaningful to do at the camp. Hopefully, they will add some of these things (like fixing/building defenses and the like) at the hamlets once they introduce the "hamlet defense" events.

The market stalls (storefront) in the game seem tacked on as an afterthought. They need a lot more customization options, as well as greater shelf-space and longer rentals (at least 25 hrs... otherwise you have to come by earlier and earlier each day to maintain it...) Not to mention, a pink star over your head allows you to stand out from the crowd without the trouble of renting a stall. In fact, the stall actually blocks the view of such a star, making stalls undesirable.
A stall that allowed one to list twice as many items would be worth the rental for a lot of people. It would also be nice if the items displayed on and around the counter reflected what is actually listed (similar to how retainers can now wear clothing that is for sale).

Large enough player organisations (LS/player-run Company?) should be able to actually establish their own market. They can list anything there without penalty, but only members of the organisation can set up shop there. If certain conditions are met, they can provide "facilities" access (with comparable fees to NPC facilities, but payable to the group maintaining the market). Maybe they could even sell a "license" allowing a non-LS member to sell in their market (albeit with some distinction, like a name-color change, to show they are not members).

Other "workshop" suggestions listed above could easily apply here. I think this is a more viable option than each player having a personal workshop.

[Sephrick]

All very great ideas! They can still make DoH/L active in the world outside of making equipment or gathering resources without dumbing things down. DoH/L don't need to go toe-to-toe with Deepvoid Slave, but they still can have a great effect on the narrative of the game world.

This post is chalk full of great examples.


EDIT:


Just to add on my own thoughts, here are some of my own ideas from the thread I had started on the same topic.

Well, the one-year anniversary for Final Fantasy XIV is rapidly approaching, and with it comes the anniversary of the Eorzea Prelive event.

It's been a tumultuous year, especially for those living and working in Japan. But the development team certainly has put their best foot forward, and it's shown.

Since the changes to crafting are something of a hot topic, I was hoping to pester the devs/comm. reps with a question.

During the Eorzea Prelive event, it was mentioned that there would be activities not only for DoH/L but those that would combine all Disciples.

Upcoming guildleve introduction
We will be adding not just normal guildleves, but a wide variety of types of guildleves. First, there will be higher level guildleves. Among those, many will have more variance in the rules/goals as well as being able to fight with more varied monsters in many more target areas. In particular, we heard many comments of "I want to fight more and more NMs!" so we want to respond to that quickly. Also, the faction leves that were in the Open Beta are designed to be a somewhat "different taste" from regular leves, with hidden starting conditions or npcs. The rewards for these are fairly good, so please try them out! Finally, we are going to be steadily adding more and more leves that encourage coordination between all the classes including gathering/crafting/magic/war. Please look forward to it!

Source

I understand that things need to be taken one step at a time. Believe me, as a player since beta I've appreciated the effort. But I was just curious what to hope for in regard to DoH/L classes beyond the standard grind.

Crafters will be able to cooperate in large-scale projects (boats, cannons, wedding cakes! YUM) so more fun for you and your company!

It would be wonderful if someday down the line we could still expect content like this:

There's also a lot of ways for battle classes and DoH/L to coexist within the same content. Take for example the caravan defense events. They could have it so that not only are there mobs to fight along the caravan's path, but also that the caravan takes damage, but can be repaired by DoH classes.

And for hamlet defense; DoL can take on gathering duties to bolster the hamlet's defenses and supplies.

[Alaltus]

There's also a lot of ways for battle classes and DoH/L to coexist within the same content. Take for example the caravan defense events. They could have it so that not only are there mobs to fight along the caravan's path, but also that the caravan takes damage, but can be repaired by DoH classes.

And for hamlet defense; DoL can take on gathering duties to bolster the hamlet's defenses and supplies.

It could possibly have phases where first of all the hamlets call for the DoL to gather ingredients. Then when the quota is met DoH gain access to putting those ingredients to use to fix the hamlet's defenses and supplies. For example Fishers and Botanists go out and gather food related supplies which unlocks the option to help resupply the troops by cooking some foodstuffs. The sythesis would be accessed through the requested recipes option to make sure no one tries to pocket the ingredients and run.

[Sephrick]

It could possibly have phases where first of all the hamlets call for the DoL to gather ingredients. Then when the quota is met DoH gain access to putting those ingredients to use to fix the hamlet's defenses and supplies. For example Fishers and Botanists go out and gather food related supplies which unlocks the option to help resupply the troops by cooking some foodstuffs. The sythesis would be accessed through the requested recipes option to make sure no one tries to pocket the ingredients and run.

All great additions. It'd still require DoL/H to be knowledgeable about their class.

I just got done with another session getting weaver from 24 to 10k from 26 and wanted to never play the game again by the end. It's becoming one of the most mind numbing experiences I've witnessed.

But after that, I decided to hammer out some guild tasks till the leve reset and wouldn't you know it? I actually had fun! The item I needed to make the current requested item was, I felt, too costly at the MWs so I grabbed my trusty hatchet and gathered some myself. Made the item and even put up a few spare ingredients at a more reasonable price.

This is the experience DoH and DoL should have from 1 ti 50, at the bare minimum. I guess I'm just trying to tone down my expectations a little. I hope they at least plan to give us Ranks 20-50 for guild tasks if nothing else. And make it a little more random than the same five items on repeat.

In the end, it's still the same experience, just crafting. But it's crafting with a purpose. The purpose is what makes it more fun than spaming the same recipe till you're in range for the next one.

Hopefully the current guild tasks were meant to serve as a proof of concept.

The "supply and replenishment" note under the Company System in the Letter from the Producer makes me hopeful that they have something in mind. Hopefully we hear something official soon.