I guess it's time

[Vantol]

Okaaay ... here we go (I answered only those, that I strongly disagree with. Unfortunatly I'll need to bring FFXI a few times as example):

- Exploring vase zones with danger. Supremely subjective, in fact I'm almost positive that people would hate running around the world if mobs were a constant threat to them.
It has been done before in FFXI and was one of the best features. Mob could aggro if it sees you or hears you or you are low on hp and etc. There were potions that would neglet some statuses and it was real challange and content itself to get from point A to B. Sometimes (regularly) you actually had to call friends so that they escort you (FFXI did user-generated content before it was invented). That would form relationsships and make this game Multi-Massive. Of course that was only possible in age, when it took 1-2 years to hit level cap. And top gear stayed relevant for 4-5 years. Getting to your distanation would bring you satisfaction like killing Savage floor. And there were hundreds of routes.

- Remove raids and instead add in 8man dungeons that are on pare with raids. (Hard dungeons, not always about hard bosses.) No reason to remove raids. Trash is not terribly interesting to fight through, though I agree it wouldn't be a bad idea to add variety.
Pepperoni farm remembers time, when there was no such thing as "trash". You could get to (almost) any objective in dungeon without fighting a single mob. But every single mob would drop item for crafting or something else important. There always was a choice.

- Removal of tome cap & requirement for obtaining them for bis/removing the tome system. Removing tome cap will simply make it so people spam grind whatever is the fastest way to BiS and then complain about nothing to do. Time gates are necessary to MMOs
No, they are not. It's just lazy design, like character-binding equipment and stuff. I wish they would remove tome system (or any other currency system except gil) from the game, leaving only straight drops. And make 99.9% items sellable. Then we would get real economy.

- Start adding actual 24man Guild FC content into the game. 24 man content is going the way of the dodo in all games. Zerging content isn't entertaining, that's why its always the least popular content.
Again, Pepperoni Farm remembers 64 people raids with higher than Savage difficulty. It was big zones where you would kill mobs, slowly get better gear and slowly make progress through this zone. A few months to clear one, then set it on farm and begin next one.

- Readjustments/complete overhall of the Hunt system. Doesn't need a complete overhaul really, minor tweaks at worst.
Yes, it does. It's meaningless.

- Make relics require alot of gil/player help to finish. Allow all players to farm currency and able to sell it to players grinding out for relic. Asking for one of the best weapons in the game to be farmable through pure gil is absolute madness.
Why? Let's say I'm crafter and I'm really good at it. My "grinding" is making money, just like collection loot is grinding for someone else. Why shouldn't I have an option to pay, say, 750 million and get it? I spent not less time on it (getting money).

- Make Relics best in slot for every patch till next expansion where they need to do a hard quest to upgrade it again. Asking for a casual grind weapon to be the best weapon in the game is a huge slap in the face for anyone who does difficult content.
No one said word "casual". Make it require a few rare drops from Savage, that you need then to craft into something HQ and kill all Primals under 5 minutes with lvl sync and blah-blah-blah. And then you get your relic, which stays bis for 1 year at least. I have said it many times and I will repeat myself,- players (and SE unfortunatly too) do not understand what "relic" means. Simple measurment is: if more than 5% of people get this weapon, it's not relic, it's artifact at best.

- About instant level up potions.
I'm hardcore FF fan and had my own community (paid for ads to get more ppl, made guilds, forum and blah-blah-blah. Also seen not hundreds, but thousands of ppl buy this game, play for 1-2 months and drop it. But that's different story). By the end of 2.0 there were 14 statics who bested Bahamut that I kept track on on 3 different servers (who werel from my country). By the end of 3.1 there were 3 statics, now there is 1. All this happened because of "unsync" system. Players just don't see reason to spend countless of hours, lose their jobs, families and whatever, to accomplish something, that can be done by avarege Carl in 1-2 years. What's the point? So, if SE implements shortcuts or those potions, why should I keep playing when I can return to this game in a few years, pay 10$ and get the same result as the other guy, who devoted all his life to FFXIV?

- Add in endgame content related to the main story. (Not a side story quest not really related to the main story.) Castrum Meridianum and so on? Unless you mean like Binding Coil or Alexander? In which case, that involves several main characters on both fronts. It seems pretty related to the main story of the game, just not required to progress?
Make it required for progress. Make it. Again, in FFXI like 50% of first expnasion (on which were based patches, new fights and stuff) were locked behind fights, that were much harder than current Savage. It was like locking gates to Ishgard and all Heavensward content behind whole Coil (without echo or level nerfs). Was it harsh? Yes. But you just can't imagine the feeling stepping your foot in those new zones after months (2 years for me, I was slow) of hard work. And those who actualy were able to get there would be praised in cities and asked to tell stories of those new zones (for real).

That is what I call "exploration"

- Slow down the combat a little bit when your adding in more actions into the game. (Balance the GCD a bit more) GCD is already slow compared to almost literally every other MMO. This is a lrn2play issue.
It's not slow, it feels slow because there is no communication in party (because combat system in this game is the worst I have seen for long). Again, in FFXI you had to type "Doing Savage Blade by macro. When it says 3 secs, start casting Flood, and when it hits I'll position myself between mob and THF for a few seconds, so he can Trick Attack me" (random ability names). And you had to type it 2-3 times per EACH mob, all the time. That is if you wanted to be efficient of course. Now go to Savage and ask people, what did they eat today and try to keep conversation (to simulate situation) and then tell us GCD is too slow.

- No more Normal mode versions of Endgame. Normal mode versions of end game were literally added in order to provide more casual players the opportunity to see the story. Removing the ability for less skilled players to see story lines seems like a terrible idea.
It kills motivation. I'm actually all for making MSQ THE hardest content which requires best gear and skill. It will set goals for many players. Currently there is close to no point in getting stronger gear. Or doing anything in this game at all ...


P.S. Sorry for my bad Engrish