What is one aspect of MMO design past or present that wish was added or taken away.

[Awha]

I for one if I had to pick something I know people will call me crazy I do wish they would design dungeons around the use of CC and incorporate mechanics like having a dps be forced to kite a group of mobs around or something. In short I wish dungeon design took job function and utility into question, even though this would push a meta comp I would be okay with that.

I get this is a bad idea and would suck but yeah I am weird like that.

[Ayuhra]

Open world.

Elder Scrolls Online is a title most people sleep on and it has problems but its open world is amazing. That kinda open world with Final Fantasy XIV's story etc would be amazing.

[Vyrerus]

I kind of wish they'd bring back stuff like Maat and Genkai/Limit Break quests and Merits from FFXI. I don't want anything as asinine as Master starSTARstar over your head Job Point type grinds, but I always found merits to be extremely cool, especially after they were expanded so that you could merit into things beyond your optimal weapons etc.

I wish they'd bring in something like Maat to FFXIV... though that's all but impossible now. People would riot in Hawker's Alley/The Quicksands/Wherever Gridanian AFKers AFK if they had to actually know how to play their job to beat a Mentor figure in a 1v1 in order to proceed with reaching level cap.

[ReynTime]

Taken away:
Dungeons as a leveling mechanism.
Teleporting everywhere.
Flying mounts.
DPS tunnel vision job design.
Hallway simulator dungeon design.

Added back:
Forced party play to survive in the overworld.
Leveling tied to overworld content.
Flexible rotations.
Some gear horizontality.
Punishment for getting hit while mounted.
Elemental weakness.
Less job homogenization.

My ideal mmorpg would mix things from Ragnarok Online, FFXI, XIV 1.X and ARR-Heavensward.
I'm sure someone will quote and say how I suck because I want the opposite of what the average current XIV fan likes. I don't care. The topic asked and I answered.

[TeraRamis]

I'm tired of being the focus of the story. These games were at their best (not FFXIV, of course) when we were treated as bit players who contributed, but could never claim to be solely responsible for any triumph. Games like this needs to do more to acknowledge the cooperative reality that we're all just little pieces of a whole.

[Shougun]

Saw a few I like, I thought to add:
Heavy emphasis of roleplay via actual gameplay narrative. Most basic and generic is Dragoon and how they take fall damage, but the concept goes through everything, monsters with extra personality quirks (like snurbles used to heal players), faction interaction, critters that are to be critters not level 80 murder deer, neat effects on items that fit their lore, etc.

[Kaylal]

Remove the requirement to run dungeons to progress the main story.

If that's not an option, then scale them for solo play. I don't mind them being hard or giving scaled down rewards. What I mind is having to rely on other players to progress my character through the main story. It's the reliance that makes me uncomfortable.

Too many bad experiences...

[Krotoan]

I wish the MMO's would do away with heavily punitive consequences for failure. Losing large amounts of progress is an archaic practice from back when games needed artificial lengthening measures because they had to have huge replay value out of box. It's a cheap way to make sure people are playing your game longer and it really has no space in an entertainment medium aside from niche genres where you are specifically looking for that kind of challenge.

If you want something to be difficult make it complex or precise, don't make it stressful on top of that and strut around like you accomplished actual difficulty.

[Tyssyn]

Remove the requirement to run dungeons to progress the main story.

If that's not an option, then scale them for solo play. I don't mind them being hard or giving scaled down rewards. What I mind is having to rely on other players to progress my character through the main story. It's the reliance that makes me uncomfortable.

Too many bad experiences...

In Shadowbringers they introduced the the Trust system, which allows a player to run the story dungeons with 3 of the Scions as AI party members. It's a little slower than running it with actual players but it is a good way to learn mechanics, and nice when you're feeling anti-social or don't want to wait in a long dps queue.
They're continuing that in Endwalker. I do admit I would like to see them retroactively add it for past expansions but I am not sure it is possible, since they are doing the new dungeons with an eye for coding the AI.

[Theodric]

I'm tired of being the focus of the story. These games were at their best (not FFXIV, of course) when we were treated as bit players who contributed, but could never claim to be solely responsible for any triumph. Games like this needs to do more to acknowledge the cooperative reality that we're all just little pieces of a whole.

Agreed.

Such an approach works much better in single player games but even then I find blind hero worship to be dull and laughable - especially when the 'hero' is only succeeding due to ridiculous amounts of plot armour and because they have a super special power that ensures that they win no matter what. There's ways to make it more interesting and give players more choice/agency as to who they side with and work to undermine but FFXIV does not allow that.

As far as being an MMO is concerned, it doesn't really feel like one a lot of the time. I'd like more focus on bringing situations where players have to work together. I'd also like the main story to ditch the whole 'Warrior of Light' thing after Endwalker wraps up. I want to be a regular adventurer again and I want other players to be treated as such as well.