Quote Originally Posted by Daniolaut View Post
I'd like a cleaner more customizable UI, probably fewer quests, so the questing is more engaging. Gathering nodes closer together, similarly how they were in 2.0, in fact a lot of things more like they were in 2.0. I felt 2.0 was about where the game was going in the right direction in terms of mechanics and content features. The story has gotten better since 3.0, but I feel everything else has been doing downhill both in terms of quality and quantity. Thats the overaching statement.
You know, if you had just limited your original post to these 5 sentences, you might have actually had a bunch of folks agreeing with you on some of them.

Instead, we got a Manifesto about why XIV isn't as good as XI in your eyes, or at least that's what I took away from that wall of text.

Your diatribe about zone change blackouts is noted, but I learned what was REALLY going on behind those apparently seamless scenes in 1.0. Frankly. I prefer the blackout.

As far as your current points:

Your UI is eminently customizable, although it would appear you haven't taken the time to perform that customization. It's a matter of taste as to whether it could be 'cleaner'.

Gathering nodes weren't all that close in 2.0 (yeah, I've been leveling alts of late) and it's as much a pain to get between nodes as it was back in 2014, but without the inconvenience of the slow-walk between those nodes (prior to 5.0) when you were stealthing so you didn't get killed by mobs. With flight, the 3.0+ areas are closer and avoid the mobs.

They've reduced the number of quests you need to finish in the 2.x storyline, and pretty much eliminated the need to do side-quests. That should be a plus in your eyes.

Mechanics in 2.0 are changed in 3.0+ for balance against the newer, harder-hitting open-world mobs and duty finder instances, as well as because it would have been extremely boring to be stuck with the rotations you used in ARR for the next 5 years. You may not like the changes, but that doesn't mean that 2.x was the end-and-be-all of this MMO experience.

As far as content -- you got 50 levels dumped on you, with two more years of content before the expansion. There HAD to be something for you to do once you've hit max level, or the MMO would have died a quick death in 2013. Most of that content HAD to be created and/or designed pretty much before 2.0 actually went on sale. It is pretty admirable for an MMO to have any kind of content schedule these days, even if it is not the content you desire.