The Endwalker patch content has been a series of experiments (and that's ok)

[Boblawblah]

Only thing I really like are adventure plates.

hah! It's funny what people like and hate. Personally I immediately disabled adventure plates/instant portraits in duties after first seeing them, it was obnoxious having to see people's characters like that. I'm actually surprised so many people like it, but that sums up a lot of the issues with games like these. There's just things that some people will hate and barely consider content and others really enjoy them.

[Jeeqbit]

we received a self contained MSQ which incorporated the trial fights, rather than a separate trial series.

I suppose you could argue that ending the primal slaying story arc was a risk in general, because it means they have to know what will replace it. It also means people might quit "because it's the end" and many said they were quitting at 6.0 because it was a fitting time to in the MSQ, which was part of why Yoshi-P had to delay and modify the MSQ to include messages of hope about where we could explore next.

We also saw QoL updates to the game and it's UI

These have been good, but frankly, there could be more. A lot more. It should be someone's full-time job to work on Quality of Life, not the "if we have time for it" thing it seems to be.

new player improvements in the form of the duty support system.

This was released in Shadowbringers though. All they have been doing is extending it to previous duties. I don't actually think that this is a risk at all. Giving people the option to solo dungeons when there are already solo duties doesn't change much, and even makes them more likely to stay because of the faster queue.

They will probably end up being social anyway for the Hard Mode dungeons, trials or from ending up in a Free Company, or when they do a roulette.

It is only a risk in that it seems to have consumed development resources that could have gone to new content, which has been a source of frustration for people.

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

True, but considering they have always done it for the first raid tier of each expansion, it was a safe risk to take.

Crystalline Conflict was introduced as a brand new game mode

Feast wasn't much different. It's really just some different rules, a different objective and different PvP abilities that take the focus off healers. It effectively is the Feast, so I don't want to call it new. It's just improved.

improve the PVP offering, alongside a new rewards system.

Fixed the reward system, more like. The top 100 thing wasn't good.

Housing lottery system was introduced.

I don't think there was much risk in this with how bad the old system was. Aside from bugs like that one that happened, but bugs can happen with anything.

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

This was risky. On a technical level, there is a risk of permanent loss of character data if something goes wrong. On social level, there is a risk of things like "everyone goes to Aether to raid" which came true.

Island sanctuary came in 6.2 as a brand new game mode for casual play.

It's a risk in that it has detracted from the battle and hardcore content in favor of trying to cater to casual and social players. That was the intention, but it doesn't feel like it is fun to replay once you rank up and get the rewards. I think the only thing that will be giving it a long-term future is that it is a free garden for everybody. Hopefully houses and indoor furnishings can be used in 6.5 or a future patch and that would save it for sure.

The Relic Weapons launched with the controversial method

This was a risk, but it's a case of everyone wants to do it a different way. Some people want to do field content, some people want to grind old content like CT and fates endlessly and some people want dump tomestones. So no matter who they listen to, someone is likely to complain here.

However, having a long-term goal to work towards is something even many casual players like. Relic weapons have always been a popular endgame content for casual players. I've always seen them going back to do ARR relics or Anima weapons and then boast all their glowing weapons they worked so hard on over a year. These are often people who don't do raids or are just into RP.

And even for them I couldn't see dumping tomestones being nearly as varied or satisfying.

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.

Yes, a risky idea that could have been a waste of development time if it wasn't received well. I think their original argument against it was that not many people would do high-end content with 4 players.

another 10 years of predictable content isn't healthy for the game.

I don't mind consistency. But they have always had a slot or two for "experimental content", which is how deep dungeons and diadem, then ultimates, became a thing.

[Nebelheim]

There might have been some experimental stuff with endwalkers but i feel they didn't provide any long lasting ways to play them other then a few times for completion then never get touched. Which leads to much longer gaps of feeling there isn't as much to do compared to previous expansions. And feels more effort was put into qol updates and making the game more solo friendly.

[Rolder50]

I think XIV always tried new things one could consider "experimental" - the difference why they feel more experimental now is because most of these feel like failures.

I obviously like XIV, but the new EW systems are mostly duds to me.

Only thing I really like are adventure plates.

I liked the beta version of adventure plates, but then they released the "full" version and made them a clunky mess that breaks if you so much as hide a ring.

[Snorky]

There might have been some experimental stuff with endwalkers but i feel they didn't provide any long lasting ways to play them other then a few times for completion then never get touched. Which leads to much longer gaps of feeling there isn't as much to do compared to previous expansions. And feels more effort was put into qol updates and making the game more solo friendly.

I do believe that was one of their goals to draw in the crowd that plays single player games

[Kaurhz]

It's always going to be experimental.

That's literally just the industry, round and round. You develop something, it hits or it doesn't... They continue it until they feel like it's a break - And then they repeat the same process with newer content. There's always going to be an element of dissatisfaction within a game

IMO though, the problem isn't that they are experimenting - The problem is that they just aren't drawing from the past game and past systems. Instead are looking at some parts of the game so insularly that it's hard to believe in some instances. e.g., why can't they try expanding logos/essences to other systems in the game? Why can't they include something such as sightseeing, solo treasure maps, or something similar to fetes (from Ishgard Restoration) in Island Sanctuary? -- Like why not?

It's really a shame because even something as simple as Island Sanctuary could've been a serious hit if they just elected to try and draw on past systems to elevate the content.

[Oizen]

I'd love for IS to be expanded, but what I don't want is to have to follow someone else's spreadsheet. That or randomly choose things until I get the 'efficiency bonus' for each item. That said, I doubt they'll continue it, I have a feeling the outdoor furniture was a final 'there you go, you got "instanced housing". have fun' before leaving it to rot, but I'd gladly be surprised.

They've already confirmed its not getting updated anymore. At most its getting the "Gold Saucer Updates" where you get some random item thrown into the cowrie shop every 4-5 patches.

Amazing really.

[Ivtrix]

if they learn from it, its fine

but experience it in real time has been very painful lol

[ZephyrMenodora]

I liked the beta version of adventure plates, but then they released the "full" version and made them a clunky mess that breaks if you so much as hide a ring.

They can be frustrating but I like them enough to deal with them. I wish they just auto-updated as you changed outfits, or at the very least still worked as you made them even if you changed outfits.

[TaleraRistain]

I'd love for IS to be expanded, but what I don't want is to have to follow someone else's spreadsheet. That or randomly choose things until I get the 'efficiency bonus' for each item.

I give this game a lot of flack for not explaining things a lot, but this is purely on you. If you read through the sections provided in IS, the game explains clearly how you get the efficiency bonus. And you don't need a spreadsheet at all to figure out what you need to put up each day. There is a pattern. You just have to engage with the content and work it out. I try to be pretty live and let live and empathize with people and complaints they have with this game, but blaming IS because you didn't even try and just let someone else do all the work for you because it was out there is something I will not agree with. It's like people that whine that crafting is too easy when they just follow someone's melding and macro guides.

Also to the OP, one positive aspect I see of putting the trial series in MSQ is that we see them much more often in roulettes. For instance, I love the Weapon fights but you never see them in roulettes. Tataru helped with this but the benefit of this patch series trials in the MSQ is they aren't hidden away in optional content.