FFXIV dungeons are a little bit too linear?

[Magis]

They will and that will become the accepted way of doing things and any one that tries to argue against it will probably be shunned.

Give people a reason to explore and they will. Yes, if you put a reward down one path and nothing anywhere else, of course people will shun it. That was the great thing about BRD, there were different items depending where you went, and different objectives needed going different paths. At the same time, they weaved in a story and setting that made the place believable and fun to explore. Dungeons in FFXI had different level range mobs in different spots, NMs here and there, and some required different paths to connect to different zones. Though this was more an openworld dungeon which doesn't compare well to instanced ones.

I appreciate the sentiment, I enjoy long exploration dungeons myself and seeing all the interesting stuff and hidden nooks and crannies, but I feel that the time of dungeons like that is gone now and it goes in the bin with other obsolete MMO mechanics like exp loss and having to carry around actual ammunition.

Yeah, seems anything that gave MMO's depth was thrown in that bin (can add elemental systems to that as well), and all that is left is a bare-bones husk with a shiny coat of paint.