Quote Originally Posted by Claymore65 View Post
Here's the problem: How do we define "relevant content"? For some players, crafting improvements is relevant, while for others its raids. For some, PVP might be most important, while for others glamour is beyond critical. The reason the Devs focus on "looking at numbers" is to gauge what the community is most interested in, and focus their development time toward that. For every person interested in a new raid, there are just as many people craving more different content. The push for content like Diadem, Palace of the Dead, and more Open World content comes from the desire for more differing types of content. SE doesn't want to focus entirely on Raids.

Is that to say raids aren't in need of improvement? Of course not. However, SE wants to make sure development time goes to content that can be enjoyed by a wide variety of players, and, sadly, "hardcore" raids aren't that. I agree the passageways that the raids and dungeons use are boring. I would love to see more winding, branching pathways and the like...although many prefer the fast, streamlined nature instead. It makes speedrunning faster, which is why you'll notice later dungeons don't feature optional rooms for the most part. Even simple puzzles have been all but removed from dungeons, since players would (seemingly) rather skip them anyway. I can only assume that's why the current Raid Tiers work this way. They want them to be easily repeatable, so they minimize the number of trash packs. I agree that I would like to see that changed, though I can also understand why they'd rather keep them on the shorter end.
Relevant as in already implemented features/content structure in the game that are core parts of progression on your character. It still goes to my point that keep your already established content in check, then go to newer domains. Say for example that Feature/Content A was released and it does not reach a certain level of quality it should. You should focus your resources on getting that to the level of quality it deserves. Once you are more in a satisfactory state, then spend resources on the new Feature/Content B. I won't ever deny new ideas and new ways to engage the game and a huge supporter, but not in the expense of leaving something in a stasis.

Again, not saying that is what SE does or how they manage their money, but if that was the situation, then it seems misguided to me.

Also kind of need to look at the big picture. It isn't simply about raids itself. Raids benefit many other things like boosting the economy and making crafting more relevant, people engaging content beyond it's first time to get items to be able to raid. Raids do help drive and motivate people to do other content to be able to tackle the content. All people may have different end game goals, but keeping something like raids into check and making them as long lasting as possible is good for not just the raiders themselves, but the people around them also. This is why I don't completely believe in just looking at numbers. Certain content even if not engaged by the majority still make ways to drive other content around it. Which has myself in the mind set that quality standards need to be met before going to something new.

Of course quality standards is subjective, but it is easy to tell when a lot are not happy with how you handle certain content.