Quote Originally Posted by Kirsten_Rev View Post
These are great ideas, but most of them do not address the desires of people who are seeking single-character progression.

I'm one such player. I want long-term goals that offer tangible in-game benefits. And by long-term, I mean years, not months. I want something that helps me feel invested in my character, something that helps me feel like another person at level 70 with the same gear might not be an exact carbon copy of me. There are some elements of this in the game right now; one great example is Desynthesis levels for crafters. Those require significant effort to accrue (naturally anyway; obviously people can spend huge sums of Gil to do it faster). They offer tangible benefits, but nothing game-breaking. Great. Another lesser example is the faster Mount speed items from Hunts; getting all of them (particularly for ARR areas) required a good bit of time spent.

The problem is that there aren't enough elements like this. Virtually all of the grinds are centered around Glamours or rapidly-invalidated gear, which for me at least, does not deliver the same satisfaction as character growth. We need more variety.

This is a worthwhile use of development time. It'll soothe the significant percentage of players who have a lot of time available, but nothing to do with it. Done properly, it will also revitalize leveling queues, which right now suffer from the fact that nobody will queue for them at level 70 unless they're looking to help out a friend or level an secondary job. My boyfriend mains WHM, and he'd happily jump in on the Leveling Roulette as a Healer - a role often in need. But guess what? It's useless to him - utterly useless.

I'd also like to point out that people prioritize different things, and it'd be nice if we could be better at empathizing. I, for instance, could not give two figs about a new race. I wouldn't switch to it, because I like my current character. But I recognize that for many others, a new race is exciting - so SE developing one is, I think, a good idea for the community as a whole. I also despise Hildebrand and everything he stands for, but I know that plenty of others get a kick out of his quest lines, so why not keep it up? It would be nice to receive the same courtesy in return.
Thanks, Kirsten, this is perfectly said and summarized.