I appreciate the Endwalker patch content has been a little polarizing to a significant amount of the player base. A common thread I've seen in discussions is that the dev team need to take more risks, but when you consider the patch content they've iterated on over the 6.X series, it's clear they have been taking risks and experimenting for what comes next.

Across the patch content we have welcomed several brand new game modes and systems, as well as changes to how content rolls out and is presented. This time around, we received a self contained MSQ which incorporated the trial fights, rather than a separate trial series. This MSQ also ran the full span of patch cycle, unlike our usual X.3 split in the narrative. We also saw QoL updates to the game and it's UI, as well as new player improvements in the form of the duty support system.

In the 6.1 and 6.2 patches, we were introduced to several new game systems which were iterated on across the expansion, as well as general improvements:

The savage raid unlock was pushed out by a week as a trial and community feedback dictated that this change should become permanent.

Crystalline Conflict was introduced as a brand new game mode to improve the PVP offering, alongside a new rewards system. Over the course of the patch content we have seen new maps, changes to schedules, additional older PVP modes being updated and reintroduced where once dormant.

The controversial, but ultimately fairer Housing lottery system was introduced. Whilst this was buggy at launch it has provided a much neater way of dealing with housing sniping.

Data Center travel was introduced, which has improved grouping opportunities and opened up more means for social interaction.

Smaller changes like the Unending codex, gender lock removal, glamour plate increase were introduced.

Island sanctuary came in 6.2 as a brand new game mode for casual play. This has been iterated on across the expansion and the request for outdoor furniture placement was heard and later implemented.

The Relic Weapons launched with the controversial method of acquiring set to Tomestones, with no field content or grind associated to the process. Whilst this has been poorly received, the mountain of feedback no doubt received from the players will help determine how to handle future relics.

Variant and Criterion Dungeons were introduced as a new form of small group content for casual and hardcore players. It's recently been discussed in an interview that the rewards system is something the developers are looking at for future content.

Adventure Plates launched in a beta state and were tweaked across patch content.

In Endwalker we definitely received more experimental content, at the expense of what we'd usually come to expect, but another 10 years of predictable content isn't healthy for the game.