State of the Game: Savage+ Dungeons and End Game Leves

[Delmontyb]

There is a lot to love about Final Fantasy XIV, and having given the latest expansion some thought, I figured I'd like to share some ideas that would add to the overall replayability of the game as a whole.

While I have a lot of ideas that I want to share, this post is focused on the idea of Savage+ Dungeons and End Game Leves in the game.

1. Savage+ Dungeons
What would the Savage+ system look like? Well, it's a spin on taking the modifiers from Heaven on High and applying them to scaled up dungeons that are currently in the game. There are a lot of awesome dungeons that go unused and the idea here is to take them all and just level sync them up to the current level cap (currently 70, but as expansions are released, they would scale up to 80, 90, ect)... Then, you also take the modifiers that have been released in POTD and HOH and can apply them to the dungeon itself, along with adding in more modifiers. Both positive and negative. Now each time you clear the Savage+ Dungeon you "level up" the duengon and are thus given the option to go back into it and the dungeon is now harder, imagine the enemies being level 71, or 75, 80, etc... Along with adding in new modifiers with each phase, thus pushing players with challenging and repeatable content.
Rewards
Rewards are going to fall into what is most challenging as the game currently only offers tombs and gear, so I think they would want to add leaderboards, mounts, titles, and more to this system.

2. End Game Leves
One of the systems that I always thought could use a horde mode, would be the leve system. Think waves of enemies, ever increasing difficulty levels, and even add in HOH modifiers to the mix. The catch here is that leves happen in the open world, so it would be visable to other players, while at the same time being instanced content. The catch is the leve would allow you to end after any 10 rounds of enemies, but would continue on for as long as you can go, so there would be no end, the enemies would keep getting stronger, and they could pull from any number of enemies or bosses that the game already has... Imagin fighting a version of Alexander at some point out in the open world. The trick here is that the player would use their allowances to do this content, so it would be like a leve that cost all your allowances, so you couldn't do it every week. Along those lines, leve linking would be a thing so you could bring friends and challenge it as any size group up to a full alliance if you wished. The leve should take into account the party sizes and apply that to both the difficulty and the rewards.
Rewards
Being that this content is gated behind your leve allowances, they could offer a lot of interesting and rare rewards because players would be time-gated between trying it for themselves as well as with other players. It would offer XP, tombs, mounts, minions, and more.

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Updated 8/1/2018

Posted a video providing more detail here if interested: https://youtu.be/5lp8xQ5h3g4

[Aquaslash]

Your Savage + idea sounds similar to the Nightfall strikes from Destiny. I think such an idea could actually work. You'd up the difficulty of certain dungeons and then give them the Deep Dungeon modifiers to up the challenge. This could have also been where elements could come into play cause you could add the burns and resistances or whatnot. Naturally a full wipe causes the duty to end so you couldn't be reckless.

I'm all for it honestly. I've always thought that raids shouldn't have to be the end all be all of endgame. I would like to see a viable alternative that's equally challenging

[Raldo]

Savage/Extreme content is always just boss boss boss. A harder dungeon or something would be a nice change of pace (and not just "here's a bunch of easy trash to kill before the boss"). Maybe they would actually expect us to use our CC actions for once (Sleep, etc.).

But really, I'm mainly posting to say this:

tombs

tomes.

[Delmontyb]

But really, I'm mainly posting to say this:

tomes.

You do you dude.

[Delmontyb]

Your Savage + idea sounds similar to the Nightfall strikes from Destiny. I think such an idea could actually work. You'd up the difficulty of certain dungeons and then give them the Deep Dungeon modifiers to up the challenge. This could have also been where elements could come into play cause you could add the burns and resistances or whatnot. Naturally a full wipe causes the duty to end so you couldn't be reckless.

I'm all for it honestly. I've always thought that raids shouldn't have to be the end all be all of endgame. I would like to see a viable alternative that's equally challenging

The other piece to this would also to help take pressure off development who works hard to create new encounters. All these systems exist in FFXIV currently, they just don't exist together. So they wouldn't need to make a modifier system from scratch, or new bosses for these dungeons, just add in modifiers, and more.

Other modifiers could be that AOEs do more damage (both ways), that killing enemies have them drop AOE bombs that can hurt the party, thus changing the way you handle big pulls, and so much more.

[Pastahnak]

Besides adding a mount to the reward the leve thing sounds like dead on arrival content, I'm all for more open content, but this doesn't sound all that fun and having to spend all ur leves leaves people leveling crafters out of the content entirely. I'd much prefer an overhaul of the fate system where we get more exp more chain fates that give a reward on completion of the last one and even tomes, be it an existing one or a totally separate currency system that gives it's own rewards although I don't know what they'd be.

I'm all for tougher dungeons though but I feel like the devs consider HoH to be our "difficult 4man content" the community has been asking for.

[Deathgiver]

and having to spend all ur leves leaves people leveling crafters out of the content entirely.

You can level all jobs using the least efficient leves possible with around 1k leves this expac, and with as few as about 200 if you're actually efficient. that leaves you over 3k leves per expansion that are literally only useful for achievements otherwise. Any new use of leves would be welcome.

[MoroMurasaki]

My initial reaction was "ugh, but dungeons and leves are so boring, I don't want to deal with them any more than I have to!" but the dungeon idea specifically sounds like it could be fun.

I was just talking to a friend about how there are a bunch of things in 50/60 Roulette that I just never see because I almost never do that roulette. I actually found myself specifically queueing for Sohm Al (HM) the other day for no real reward but just because I felt like seeing it again.

Overall- yes, I'd definitely enjoy this. I don't know how much I would use the leve system on my own but like most content it could be fun with a full group.

[Tsumdere]

A big upvote from me. As someone who loves upper level PotD and HoH content, I would love to see that translated into Savage dungeons. It's really satisfying to clear a floor with Gloom+No Abilities+No Items - now imagine clearing some of the harder dungeons like that. It would definitely make tanks and healers feel more impact doing their namesake.

[Bourne_Endeavor]

Essentially, the Mythic+ system from WoW by the sound of it. Either way, yes. I have been begging for something like they to breath new life into stale content. The best part is it costs the devs very little to implement since virtually everything is reused assets with maybe some minor deviations here and there. You could really tie some fun achievements to a system like this...

"Complete Sohm Al (HM) in under x amount of time."
"Complete <insert dungeon> without abilities"
"Complete <insert dungeon> without a tank."
"Complete <insert dungeon> while under permanent mini."

Silly things like that can go a long way to making an otherwise boring dungeon fun, especially with titles, mounts and minions included.