An idea on how to improve early gameplay?

[ItMe]

Right, but is "run to end, spam AoE, run to end, spam AoE" exactly the content we want? Is that experience not already hollow?

If it's a matter of time constraint, note that the rewards can absolutely be increased in proportion to the additional time taken.

At present, though, any variety in playstyle is effectively just a trap that causes considerable tension between players. What if weren't? What if it weren't all just an illusion of depth or variety?

I think at that point this is going into a different topic.
Not "how to make the early game better," and more "what could be improved about FF14's gameplay."

[Shurrikhan]

I think at that point this is going into a different topic.
Not "how to make the early game better," and more "what could be improved about FF14's gameplay."

True, but early gameplay is still gameplay. If the limit of making early gameplay suck less is to make it suck exactly as much as the endgame experience (at relatively equal difficulty levels/types), that's both a narrow and not wholly necessary constraint.