Dear Yoshi & Team: Looking Forward / Things to Consider

[h0tNstilettos]

Please relay this post to Yoshi & Team.

I've been playing FFXIV: A Realm Reborn since beta and am looking forward to Heavensward. I've been thinking about the future of the game and how it is growing in popularity. The game still does not cater to every MMO player, but I understand this is because the idea was for it to be very welcoming for casual players and new MMO players. I feel like starting from Heavensward and beyond, there should be more stuff that caters to the hardcore, while the majority of the game can still be super casual friendly. Basically the best of both worlds, turning one of the best MMOs on the market into something even greater. I do understand time restraints due to how frequently content is released, which I include a possible solution to below. Not all of these ideas involve appeasing the hardcore. I've thrown in some general ideas as well. Here are the ideas:

1. I know many players have requested larger more drawn out dungeons and raids, like something that has 8 or more bosses and might take at least a couple hours to clear. I read somewhere where you had said you would love to do this, but then it would not be possible in the time between each major patch. I agree that more frequent content patches is more important, but to solve this why not release something big every 2 or 3 patches? Like work a little bit on this bigger than usual dungeon between each patch, so this way the work on it can be dispersed across multiple patches instead of trying to get it done in 3 months. Even if it was just 1 2 or 3 hours dungeon a year, is still better than none, and over time there would be others.

2. Have an epic boss battle trial similar to older Final Fantasy games, like think Yiazmat from Final Fantasy XII, or some of FFXI's bosses. I don't mean put Yiazmat in FFXIV. I mean something equally hardcore that would take at least an hour or longer to defeat. It would be completely optional, and exist only to feed the most hardcore players. FF is known for its super bosses, but I feel like FFXIV has no super bosses due to how quickly they are defeated. I do understand that in FFXIV it doesn't take long to run out of TP and stuff, and pots only go so far. But there are ways to make it work, like cycling players/groups which has been done in other MMOs with extremely long fights. Or even have mechanics in fight that can refresh these things. Also consider including a solo boss challenge that's a little tougher than class/job bosses that will truly test solo skills

3. Have more unique elements to boss battles aside from just telegraphed attacks. In example, some boss functions might include something that affects your field of vision, like imagine screen turning black except for a small circle in center of screen that you can still see from. Or a boss battle where party's HP is being drained the entire fight, similar to Cuchulainn from FFXII. Those are just some examples.

4. Have more unique dungeons, like something similar to Doom Train from FFVI where the dungeon itself is moving, or the background gives the appearance that the dungeon is moving, or an upside down dungeon similar to Ipsen's Castle from FFIX. Or a dungeon where at one part the 4 party members are temporarily split up that each have a brief solo part to do before meeting back up. But what if the solo member dies and no healer? Or unable to complete part? There are ways around this, such as making it something everyone should be able to clear since they had to meet the iLv anyways to enter dungeon, or something in dungeon that automatically rezzes the player at solo part. Just imagine how fun and surprising it would be to go into a dungeon and a trap separates the party briefly. It would be nerve racking, thrilling, and unexpected the first time doing. Or have a dungeon similar to older FF where the party's HP is being drained the entire time because the dungeon itself is toxic. This is similar to boss idea mentioned above.

5. Include more unique functioning jobs. In example a Blue Mage could learn all of their abilities from monsters. They would still have just as many abilities as other jobs, and just as balanced, but they would acquire their abilities in a more fun and interactive way instead of automatically getting them with level. Or maybe half could be attained just from leveling, while the other half you learn from certain enemies in battle. Or a Beastmaster job that actually captures monsters that can fight for them, so it could be another pet based job like ARC/SUM. And I doubt anyone is going to say it is unfair that they have to fight or capture certain monsters for some of their abilities while other jobs don't. Each job is different, and most the people that play the job will probably enjoy that concept since it is fun and breaks away from the cookie cutter stuff, while still remaining balanced.

6. Add some kind of fun collection element to the game. Sure, there's triple triad, but I mean something that involves fighting every mob, boss, etc in game to get their drop. Or have it be a bestiary, where defeating an enemy will add it to the bestiary and there could be rewards for filling out the bestiary to certain points. The bestiary would include every enemy in game, including all dungeon mobs and bosses, all raid mobs and bosses, all world mobs and bosses such as enemies unique to FATEs, hunts, etc, all story enemies, all job quest enemies, all trial enemies, primals, etc. This includes the harder versions of enemies that have multiple difficulties.

I hope you guys will consider these ideas. There is always a solution even when it seems something would not work in the game. I know you guys had said there are many things you can't do yet until PS3 support is drop that you guys would love to do. So if they can't be done in Heavensward, at least consider them for the future.