Bring back crowd control. Bring back branching dungeons. Bring back ADVENTURE.

[Valic]

I've been wanting more dungeons that aren't just run from point A to point B and do X mechanics for 4 minutes until boss dies so you can repeat that algorithm 2 more times but with an additional "epic ending boss cutscene". I've been saying we need less linear dungeons in general with things that focus on strategy and cooperation. Maybe dungeons that aren't just one big line but instead have a giant open area where the party has to go together to different objectives similar to the first ARR 24 man(minus the lockout of content until "X" boss is defeated). Or dungeons where all 4 have to split into different sections to handle separate mechanics that need to be completed within a time frame. things that require the team to assign responsibilities, roles, duties, and etc to adventure and defeat the dungeon... Not just "have the dps and do the things so your dps isn't 0". I wish there were ideas taken out of Satasha's first mechanic of reading the book to know how to proceed through the first door without traps but on a grander scale that forces the party to delegate responsibilities to specific jobs.

Or even have dungeons that aren't just dungeons, but instead instances similar to the ones we have to queue for alone. Such as this section of the area needs a defender to stall the enemies until blank is ready, meanwhile this section needs a healer to assist the other side's defense. Meanwhile this side has no reinforcements and needs damage on the field sent out.... Etc. Like adding NPC's in place of roles and duties but still lacking certain abilities that will require YOUR party to understand who needs to do what and where. All the while it needs to be done with coordination or wipe.


I feel like I've seen games do this, but for some reason FFXIV is afraid to give up this formula because it's the standard for an mmo that people are comfy with and everyone seems to hate change. Or when they do execute ideas like this, people more vocally say they dislike the content... A great example being the dragon walking across the bridge that the party has to use cannons and etc for...

That's only true for a static dungeon. There are a lot of ways to get around problems like this, though how easy they are to add into the game is another question.

I mean, just like the satasha example I used above... could use that alone for several ideas andin different manners. We have treasure hunts with a format that almost complicates things but still keeps a set "formula" of things such as "this floor will randomly spawn this big mob, or 3 smaller mobs, or the 5 mobs in order to kill, along with the standard 3 sets of enemies to clear the floor".

The problem is FFXIV keeps using a standard formula, without changing up the base design. What if they designed a dungeon that all 3 paths of it had different segments that interchange. The first time around would be new, the 2nd and third time around would be varying degrees of familiarity and party members could discuss "oh I've seen this path in my last run here, you have to do blank". Part of this is laziness/time/resources... Personally I think they could get away with a lot more if they experimented more with RNG in dungeons, and not just a "1 of 3 possibilities" idea. That's usually why I like mechanics that don't specifically mark tanks/healers or specific dps, and instead mark all party members with randomness. Like the 24man in SB that does the prime numbers mechanic, or the boss in the monk temple that assigns you a sun or moon coin that determines where you need to move. If they could turn mechanics like that into things more corresponding to whole dungeon layouts and how the party traverses them... It'd be a lot more interesting. Even better if they made it so many enemies aren't always the same pack or in the same exact spots or 100% always the same exact boss or the same 1 in 3 bosses... Heck, how about a dungeon where depending on how fast or slow you get through bosses determines what bosses you fight at the end or what path opens up in the dungeon.

Or how about one that actually requires a person to throw a body off the side as a sacrifice like we all meme about to open a pathway and then the healer is required to res the person.

Or how about something that isn't conveyed as just one form of progression and isn't even told directly to the player? Like maybe reading the notes in a dungeon tells you if you do X emote at X spot, you open a secret pathway to X. Or dying to X boss at least once causes X to activate a certain thing at X.... there's so much potential I feel like but..... screw it all, the formula of dungeons work... and why would they change something that people are used to and know works?