Face it, this game is in maintenance mode now, i.e. managed decline

[CStrife912]

This also goes in hand with what I made in another post that I feel that they are spending more time working on the foundation of the game then say endgame. They are clearly tidying up the new player experience and how new people are interacting with the game. That is just as important for the longevity of the game. I would love more consistent things to do but I would sacrifice me playing the game more if it meant more people pick it up because X,Y or Z put a new player off whether that is outdated systems, ARR being too long and needing more chop, the visual overhaul because as much as we can say art direction carries a game...visuals go a long way in keeping people playing outside of gameplay and systems.

[RyuDragnier]

This also goes in hand with what I made in another post that I feel that they are spending more time working on the foundation of the game then say endgame. They are clearly tidying up the new player experience and how new people are interacting with the game. That is just as important for the longevity of the game. I would love more consistent things to do but I would sacrifice me playing the game more if it meant more people pick it up because X,Y or Z put a new player off whether that is outdated systems, ARR being too long and needing more chop, the visual overhaul because as much as we can say art direction carries a game...visuals go a long way in keeping people playing outside of gameplay and systems.

I have a sneaking suspicion that they're trying to adjust the earlier stuff before focusing on the endgame again. Make it easier to get TO the endgame before actually working on it more. The endgame can be amazing, but if it's a slog to get there, how many players are you actually going to keep? Plus trying to make workarounds for the original spaghetti code can only help in the long run, since that means they don't have to jump through as many hoops to get things added to the game.

[CStrife912]

I have a sneaking suspicion that they're trying to adjust the earlier stuff before focusing on the endgame again. Make it easier to get TO the endgame before actually working on it more. The endgame can be amazing, but if it's a slog to get there, how many players are you actually going to keep? Plus trying to make workarounds for the original spaghetti code can only help in the long run, since that means they don't have to jump through as many hoops to get things added to the game.

I agree...no point getting new players to join if the mountain to get to endgame is so high plus we don't know what else they're working on. So much stuff has been streamlined, QoL etc its hard to really grasp it...if you just doing raiding or ultimate sure I get the frustration but its always an issue when they are making the game for multiple demographics.