Mixing up the formula - Will Eureaka be the answer?

[Altena]

This is more of a pipe dream, as I know the chances of this happening are unlikely.. However as someone who has played the game since 1.0, the current formula is getting a little tired.

This game is all well and good for newbies who are just starting to get into it now, however I am sure there are many vets out there like me that enjoy the game for the most part - but are getting a little burnt out. This weekly tome / weekly raid lockout formula is getting a little tired, and I really feel as though it needs to be mixed up a little bit. The formula was fine in ARR, however I expected HW to change it somewhat which it didn't, and now coming into SB I can see that they are sticking by it. I can understand why, I mean why fix something that is working, right? But there are only so many weeks of capping tomes and doing 1 raid clear for the week that people can handle.

For such a loyal fanbase (being a Final Fantasy title), you would think that the formula would be designed more on the long term and evolve, rather then the current rewash with a different skin.

I was a raider throughout ARR, and raided a decent amount in HW, however have dropped down to very casual play during SB and I am just clearing the easier raids in SB through PF. I have been enjoying the game very casually by running raids in PF, and doing the casual stuff in the game, but I can imagine myself not sticking around for too many more raid cycles unless stuff starts to change, which is sad because I have enjoyed my time, and would love to continue if I wasn't just getting bored of it all.

I am hoping Eureaka breaths a bit more life into the game (however I am not really holding my breath). I am also hoping it's more along the lines of Abyssea in XI. While I hate going back and highlighting that tired old game, there were some designs in there that could really work well for a modern MMO.

My thought process of how Abyssea-like content would work in this game for people that are unaware of what it's like -
It would be an open world zone with no lockout (could be instanced like Diadem). Your party kills monsters to get a pop item for a mini-boss (something of moderate difficulty). That boss drops [xxx] that you trade in for oils/coats/dips to upgrade your tome gear (or relic armor if that ever comes). It also drops 1 of 3 items that allows you to pop a mega-boss that is reasonably difficult (perhaps on an primal extreme level of difficulty). This boss drops alternate gear (horizontal progression), and also drops an item required to upgrade your relic weapon...

I honestly think an Abyssea-like system would be fantastic in this game, alongside the standard raid cycle. In fact I would very quickly give up the 24-man raids for this kind of repeatable content.

Now I am setting my expectation of Eureaka pretty low. I mean we got pretty hyped about the new/overhauled version of Diadem, to find out it was just changed to a zone full of Fates and a raid-like boss that pops once in a blue moon. Let's face it, Diadem was a pretty epic disaster and got boring extremely quick. I am hoping Eureaka will be a totally different story.

The most important thing for Eureaka to have is NO LOCKOUT or daily/weekly cap. Content has to be repeatable. Something that you can just band your friends / FC together and just go in whenever you want, with any number of people - and get stuff done. I understand SE's need to gate progression behind these lockouts, however they are possibly the most community damaging system they could use.

[Xatsh]

I am hoping for something good, I am expecting a new Diadem. I will be shocked if Eureka will be anything more then a casual thing used for catch up content with another way to get materia and a few mounts. I wish they would add a guild method of advancement endgame though would fix so many issues.

Diadem could of been great if they didn't make it a mindless zerg fate style content. Game needs large scale guild content which is actually meaningful. Diadem was not it.

And as much as I hated Abysea... that style content where you could take as many or as little ppl as you wanted and gear that was extremely easy to obtain like that would work in this game due to gears short life span... unlike the another game where it sorta killed the whole endgame scene.

[Altena]

And as much as I hated Abysea... that style content where you could take as many or as little ppl as you wanted and gear that was extremely easy to obtain like that would work in this game due to gears short life span... unlike the another game where it sorta killed the whole endgame scene.

I have made this comment before - I don't think Abyssea was actually "bad" content, I just don't think it fit the XI model very well.
This game though? I think it would fit it exceptionally well.

Adding mild horizontal progression where there currently is none.
Introducing content that allows you to solo, or to go in with a full alliance and still get stuff done.
Content that isn't locked on some timer of "do once a week/day and be done with it".

Finally, adding back a sense of community into this game. This game is stuck in this whole "very large lobby with a bunch of instanced fights"..
Half the time people won't even say "hello" when you enter a dungeon anymore.
Give us some mass-scale stuff (like what Diadem should have been).

[Sandpark]

Adding mild horizontal progression where there currently is none.
Introducing content that allows you to solo, or to go in with a full alliance and still get stuff done.
Content that isn't locked on some timer of "do once a week/day and be done with it".

Finally, adding back a sense of community into this game. This game is stuck in this whole "very large lobby with a bunch of instanced fights"..
Half the time people won't even say "hello" when you enter a dungeon anymore.
Give us some mass-scale stuff (like what Diadem should have been).

Yummy, Abyssea. And while you're at it...

Add Sky, Sea, Besieged, and Campaign. Wow me, do it better than before in this version and give players something constantly to progress towards without needing to queue up, actually bond with FC members or same server players. Hell, throw in a party synergy system so meta isn't about who can play with themself the best via rotations.

[Altena]

Yummy, Abyssea. And while you're at it...

Add Sky, Sea, Besieged, and Campaign. Wow me, do it better than before in this version and give players something constantly to progress towards without needing to queue up, actually bond with FC members or same server players. Hell, throw in a party synergy system so meta isn't about who can play with themself the best via rotations.

You obviously know where it's at.

There were so many positive elements to take away from Abyssea it's not funny.
People just see it as the doom and gloom of XI (which it statistically wasn't considering how subs increased during that time).
There were negatives about it, sure.. However Abyssea was actually a good thing at the time - minus the short falls of being able to EXP in there from level 1 etc..

The other content was also great at the time but for it to fit in XIV I would imagine that it would have to see rather large adjustments to it.
I think Abyssea is the best example of a solid system that would slot right into XIV with very minimal adjustments.

[Sandpark]

You obviously know where it's at.

There were so many positive elements to take away from Abyssea it's not funny.
People just see it as the doom and gloom of XI (which it statistically wasn't considering how subs increased during that time).
There were negatives about it, sure.. However Abyssea was actually a good thing at the time - minus the short falls of being able to EXP in there from level 1 etc..

The other content was also great at the time but for it to fit in XIV I would imagine that it would have to see rather large adjustments to it.
I think Abyssea is the best example of a solid system that would slot right into XIV with very minimal adjustments.

The thing with Abyssea was as great as it was in itself, it offered the first pieces of gear that was better than most 75 gear that did not take 1/2 as long to obtain as that 75 gear. Without the super buffs, abyssea was still pretty challenging content that allowed players to make steady consistent progress. The option to level to 99 practically faster than anywhere else or being carried to 99 pretty much made other outside options seem slower.

The smart thing it did was have multiple zones of the content. If Abyssea was confined to one zone without time limitation parameters, there would be lag and over population issues at a more frequent rate. Assuming SE did bring over an improved version here. I would hope SE keep that in mind when designing it.

If it doesn't use recycling ilevel like the rest of the game.

How could SE make it a relic upgrade style content that doesn't become so good it has most players playing it versus other contents sparingly?
Could experience point parties or even skillchains become a thing in this version?
Should the super buffs come into play here?

Lots of questions.

[Jybril]

I hope so because almost everything SE brings out that's suppose to be "New and refreshing" is a bust lol.
Well, no "lol"...I actually want SE to really succeed in bringing something new to the table.
PoTD is just a catch up for DPS to level on, and a boring tiny area at that...
Diadem had potential but man...what happened there.

[Snow_Princess]

tired of all the daily and weeklies, need something new

[Lunafreya]

I'm thinking Eureka will suck and be a gigantic waste of time.

[Laerune]

I want it to be the new fresh thing that everyone is looking for, but I fear its going to flop like Diadem 1.0, 2.0 and Lords of Verminnion.