Quote Originally Posted by SwadTheFrog View Post
Agreed wholesale. I feel like the Trust System is now genuinely hurting the narrative. Not only do things become even more formulaic on the narrative "Oh, we're reachining level 83/89, time for people to randomly show up to back us up because we need eight folks". It's even more obscene on the 89 trial, where the other Scions just...appear. It is a COMPLETE asspull. No, seriously, think about it for half a second. We took the one route available to us to move further up along the Everkeep. The elevators were locked. There was NO OPPOSITE ROUTE. Yet somehow half the Scions, without being noticied by us, came running, somehow took an entirely alternate route that was never mentioned beforehand, and stumbled up on us taking the /opposite/ path. It genuinely makes zero sense.
FFXI did it better, where Trust is a form of magic, so you can summon any avatar of a character to fight at your side without the actual character being there. How can this be applied to FFXIV? Simple. Duty support but with Scions trust to fill the gaps, including one that aren't even present or nearby. Even better if you try to waive the Trust system into lore where Azem crystal does the job to fill the gaps.

Quote Originally Posted by Bright-Flower View Post
Nothing is more formulaic than 'I pull out the Azem cystal, which I only use when it's time for a trial fight specifically, and summon seven strangers from acrosstime and space who happen to be battle ready and of the appropriate level for this.'

If by the time the WoL pulls the Azem crystal and you thought prior to it the current situation won't be a fight, then I'm worried for you.