I agree with the a little of this a little of that. But basically the biggest gripe I see on instances is minimum party, if thats gone is it a problem? Thats the only major thing difference isnt(besides time limit obviously).

Also in our lets look into the past tangent. Yes most of the major XI content was instanced limbus, dyna, assault, salvage, bcnm. Sky basically functioned like an instance (there is a particular path to take to X monster etc) but you tripped over others (I NEED BLUE DOOR PLEASE). And really most dungeons had a lone farmer or something most of the time. Don't get me wrong I liked having little places like zehrun, dangruf, and sarcarium. But for the greatness of these most of the time they were empty minus maybe a person or two unless a quest brought you there for an hour or so.

The only two major systems that come to mind off hand as really overworld are ZNM(good if tedious) and VNM(horrible and random). Sea was nice saving things like say temperance that took an eon.

Also abyssea is so easy to get out of the time limit essentially makes it an open field with monster pops etc. I personally like abyssea so yet again its nice to explore and find NMs you cant possibly beat etc. I think something great from that design was you could put in extra hardwork solo and be rewarded later in group play (pop items, quests etc). That isnt something youll usually see in an instance format unless you can say save keys from one run to the next or something.

Also the note about tricks to instances making them boring- Isn't that all content? Is any monster that big a thing after your 10th success over or under? I dont recall byakko playing out any differently than a limbus run after a bit- you knew what to expect. People don't exp on certain mobs for being more annoying. When a group mentality is involved efficiency will always out rule exploration etc.

So essentially in thing Jynx and Xing are both right. Having over world and instance things are important. That said I don't think (though the ease on entry restrictions is a good idea so people can explore)