What were we really expecting from eureka?

[Stormfur]

I was hoping for lots of exploration, danger and good loot. I was not looking for fates nor carpal-tunnel-button-mashing.

I was hoping that once I unlocked my mount in Anemos, I could keep riding it in Pagos.

I was hoping they'd remove XP loss on death

[SenorPatty]

You know what I would've loved seeing in eureka? DoL/DoH being involved in a support capacity for combat classes engaged with a world class boss.

Imagine this: DoL actively gathering matetials and bringing them to a node point. Combat classes go to these node points at intervals to "use" materials to buff up (think like using gathered oils to sharpen their blades or aether to augment their magic weapons). DoH craft medical supplies to help with "recovery" or make tents so that when someone dies, they can respawn at the nearest tent (tents would have limited durability to allow only a certain amount of res). And this is just the tip of the iceberg. I could write more stuff about this but I'm on break

[Metsonm]

I think I was expecting a questline to level your gear, rather than mindless trash mobs. Maybe to fight boss monsters, like we got, but more focus put on them instead of just being boss fates. Instead of going in and Krile going "Ok, go have fun for 3 levels before I tell you to go explore this shack, I guess. Then do whatever for another however many levels." it would be a more guided thing eventually culminating in us finding a sealed weapon. I dropped off at around level 4 or 5 iirc because I just didn't sign up for nonstop mob grinding between potentially interesting things. I think my major problem was that soloing it is just awful and I hated the idea of levelling to whatever the cap was before fun started happening. Levelling is by far the dullest part of this game and it feels like the main draw here.

[Deceptus]

I was hoping for lots of exploration, danger and good loot. I was not looking for fates nor carpal-tunnel-button-mashing.

I was hoping that once I unlocked my mount in Anemos, I could keep riding it in Pagos.

I was hoping they'd remove XP loss on death

Removing the xp penalty should be a perk of being max lvl in the zone due to the fact you can't get buffer exp.

[Bahati]

I actually enjoyed Diadem with friends and expected worse case Eureka would be Diadem Ver.3. Unfortunately, I don't know what this monstrosity is but I refuse to invest my time in something so pointlessly tedious just for the sake of being tedious. It would be different if the tediousness came from having to explore on foot, work together to build, or even a rich story as you go along, I could understand. As it is now, this is just korean MMO levels of grinding with no entertainment value whatsoever.

[Airget]

A cool battle system, what we got was spinning a magicite to the proper element to deal more dmg or take less dmg.

If SE had actually released "Logos" with Eureka I feel it would of been better recieved since Eureka missed that Abyssea atma that made it fun and engaging. To collect and gain these key items to augment your character in the unique zone.

All SE created with the release of Eureka was a hub where you had to level before you could start farming your relic.

[Velhart]

My issue with Eureka is not the grind, but it breaks away from FFXIV's core concepts of accessibility and and pick up and put down type of gameplay. Can argue sure it is not hard to go into a Eureka map or stop grinding when you feel like it. However, similar to FFXI, it gates itself in making you feel like you need to be there a given amount of time to feel like you got something done. Which is what makes it come off as intimidating to people who don't have open schedules. Some made it work with their schedule, but the concepts presented to bring a form of intimidation. Despite the long grinds of the previous relic quests, they did at least come off as "Well I can do a duty finder or two and get some lights. Or go join a few FATE's for a few minutes and hopefully get a crystal." At least with previous relic quests, it still felt like FFXIV's concepts of accessibility felt like it was there. Eureka to myself at least seems to go against these concepts which is why people are so split on it.

[Eslina]

I was expecting it to be like abyssea from XI and it somewhat was, however it was missing key parts that made abyssea fun like atma, cruor currency system, protective missions, and Voidwalker NMs(which were a pain, but I'd welcome them to make eureka more of a challenge) I liked Pagos though before all the nerfs to it. Anemos was a pushover, Pagos was quite a dial-up on grind, we'll see Pyros as the middle ground and will probably be the most successful of the 4(4.5 might have a last zone as a kind of victory run)

[Erudito]

I was expecting a new, vast zone that had an interesting story with lots of nice stuff to do. What we got was a deathtrap that had very little, albeit interesting, story and the only activity within was kill monsters and do FATEs. Despite all of that, I somehow enjoyed Anemos. I still sometimes thing of going back to Anemos to get more gear and relics. The misc. loot you can get from the treasure chests still has some use too.

Pagos, on the other hand, is by far and away the most unfriendly, content killing disappointment I have ever had the displeasure of attempting in this game. Everything from the map layout, monster locations, loot systems, NM systems and, above all, the downright hellish grind for a single relic weapon is undeserving of this game.

Let us see if they learned any lessons for Pyros.

[Astarotha]

screw learning lessons for pyros, they need to patch pagos to actually be worth getting past, i went in there and spent 3 whole hours killing mobs for 2 nms that never spawned, finally managed a SINGLE BAR of light, and made a grand total of 33 pagos crystals. I GET MORE THAN THAT ON A LOW LEVEL ANEMOS FATE AND YOU NEED 500 FOR A SINGLE WEAPON. this isnt content, and i wouldnt even sully the name of grinding with pagos, this is downright wrong and thats before i even touch on the travesty that is the map design, the ONLY thing i can point to with worse map design is final fantasy fucking 2 with its "whats behind door #95274895735972? ANOTHER SQUARE HIGH ENCOUNTER TROLL ROOM!", 1.0 black shroud looked easier to navigate