ARR was better

[4clubbedace]

okay, to prefix. the CONCEPTS were better the QOL was horrid but most of those bad QOL have been addressed

• The relic was harder, involved the over world and HAD a gil sink, AND dungeons even contained some of the pieces, AND crafters could make money selling the weapon needed
• levequests had meaning
• Glamour system was more robust
• Elemental attributes on gear

youre out of your dammn mind with these alone

[Casti_EL]

I briefly played in 2.0, started probably a month before HW came out (and left a few months before SB release only to return in ShB) and for me I'd say I certainly enjoyed the class system more back then - lot more identity to the jobs, familiar spells (Stoneskin, I was a bit bitter when SE took that away from us), and to be fair, I did like the inter-class requirements for some of the advanced jobs - just made sense lore-wise that to be a Paladin a Gladiator would need to learn White Magic but I can understand how some found it frustrating (for me it was a bit reminisce of FFXI sub-job system so I didn't mind it at all, plus I do like trying out all classes in a game).

[Sigiria]

just made sense lore-wise that to be a Paladin a Gladiator would need to learn White Magic

I mean, it might have made sense if paladin had any healing spell at the time, or any spell at all...

[Sacae]

I mean, it might have made sense if paladin had any healing spell at the time, or any spell at all...

They could use Cure 1, Protect, and Stoneskin 1.

The first was useless, Protect made prepulls a few seconds faster, since the PLD could Protect while the healer used Stoneskin II.

Inbound Stoneskin I to be fairly useful on PLD in ARR and HW, though. An on demand shield was pretty nice in some niche situations. The one that immediately comes to mind is the black pegasus in Sohr Kai. That thing actually hit pretty hard at launch, amd you had just enough time to get a stoneskin up after it became untargetable for its charge attack.

[Ayer2015]

I still remember the devs having to nerf the bees in Amdapor Keep back in ARR. Not to mention people struggling with The Aurum Vale and Dzemael Darkhold. The reality is, dungeons did in fact have more mechanics to them and which were more punishing than today's content.

Current dungeon design is, segmented hallways of 3-4 packs of mobs that you group up and aoe down, then a boss. Rinse and repeat.

[Rekh]

I still remember the devs having to nerf the bees in Amdapor Keep back in ARR. Not to mention people struggling with The Aurum Vale and Dzemael Darkhold. The reality is, dungeons did in fact have more mechanics to them and which were more punishing than today's content.

Current dungeon design is, segmented hallways of 3-4 packs of mobs that you group up and aoe down, then a boss. Rinse and repeat.

It was fun how irregular dungeons were in terms of mobs and bosses. Mobs were located in different floors and places like that dungeon with the tonberries. Imagine having to go to different floors and locations to pull levers in today's ffxiv? People would rage.

[Wilford111]

God, I am glad the devs never go to the English forums to look at feedback