A better idea for dungeons besides speed run.

[TheVedis]

I personaly dont like the idea of speed runs as the incentive towards extra loot, IF they are the only means to achieve it

i would moreso like to see even more optinal conditions (re: princess fight) where you can defeat bosses in alternate harder methods in order to spawn more loot that are not time based

mixing and matching of course works too, no reason not to have more methods then just 1

[MizoreShirayuki]

Make incapacitating the main boss drop the 5th chest.

[Airget]

I posted an idea while the game was still in beta for a dungeon concept that worked more on a stamina system rather then time based in which all Disciplines could be involved.

The main idea was DoW/M would act as bodyguards for the DoL/H since their knowledge could be needed to either interpret something or to use something within the dungeon or unlock hidden areas.

With the current game concept I'd say that an Explorative dungeon there would be two parties types, you have the DoW/M party the (Battle) group comprised of 8 members and then another party comprised of up to 4 DoL/H called the (Support) party. The dungeons would work in a concept similar to Assault in which depending on the quest you are doing at the time the inside of the dungeon may change or perhaps hidden areas will be available for discovery with the right DoL/DoH class helping you.

The most basic of this concept is a 3 stage story involving a run down gold mine in which pirates have claimed it in hopes to hit a high deposit or gold ore to make gil off of. However since the mine is still owned by Ul'dah you are sent in to eliminate the pirates and stop them from claiming the gold. The quest ends upon the main pirate boss getting back up and with the last of his energy running to the back of the room and breaking down the last bit of rock, the darkness surrounding the unknown room sends an eerie chill down the adventurers back then suddenly bright eyes emit from the dark room and a horde of spiders engulf the pirate. The spiders begin to chase after you but your party realizes that the odds are to stacked against you can you fall back to report what has happened.

The next quest has you using torches to light up the dungeon in hopes of eliminating the spider horde one by one. After pushing through the hordes of spider you find yourself to the Queen and upon beating her the exit behind you caves in and you find yourself trapped within the mine. -quest ends here to act as a save point-

Upon starting the mine instance again you find yourself back where you had defeated the spider and now seek to find a way to get out of the cursed mine, with this quest line there is a lot of room to find secrets with your support group and you may even find out the true culprit that allowed such a horde of spiders to live for as long as they did in such a confined room.

Overall this idea is to have each dungeon have numbers of variables to the, rather then being the same thing over and over again, attach a story to them and have the stories branch out in which the path you take may open up a new quest line that changes the dungeon in completely different way upon entering item in which you may be able to find hidden passages or rare materia/workshops.
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Basically for DoL/H their means of support would be through the follwing, DoH could find ancient workshops which when succesfully solved can either unlock hidden passages or pass on lost knowledge to the user granting them with a new synthing recipe. DoL could find hidden passages and traps, Botanist could sense the ground, Miners the wall and Fishermen would sense for water.
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When it comes to stamina the general idea is fighting smarter would save you stamina rather then fighting recklessly, aka dying would impose a stamina decrease and when stamina hits a certain amount your party would be forced to retreat from the dungeon so acting outside the group would not be recommended. Other things that could be added could be the ability to reach "save points" within a dungeon if they are long or if you are running low on stamina. They could act like tents in which you rest for the night but you wouldn't be able to start the dungeon again right away, this concept mainly goes for those with a static group in which more of a pickup group wouldn't be in dungeons taht take this long to do lol.

I had a lot more to this idea but it's pretty complex and I highly doubt they would ever have the resources to produce content of this caliber, while it would be neat to have dungeons with multiple layers to them, odds are each dungeon will be a one trick pony to an extent, while sure the lv 30 dungeon has "variables" to it they aren't at the same level and you're pretty much determined to reach the "toughest" one since that one would logically grant the best loot each time you do it.

I would love it if a dungeon could have different quest attached to it and branching stories in which the stories progression changes the dungeon and you're free to redo a past part of the dungeon to aim for loot but it would offer a nice immersive experience in which people wouldn't feel like they are doing the same thing over and over and over again and it would also be a way to involve DoL/H into the mix to work alongside their DoW/M adventurers. I'd explain more of the idea but I think the above gives a general idea of how it would work, you can imagine the rest lol.