The rigid dungeon/trial structure results in some missed opportunities.

[PorxiesRCute]

Dawntrail spoilers, obviously. Leave if you don't want to read them.

At level 94 or 95, I forget which, but in Mamook... we have a party of 8 all gathered together to fight Gulool Ja Ja's shade. And it's a great fight, but it's one that we'll never get to experience again outside of New Game Plus. Imagine how awesome it would have been to finish that cutscene and see "Moxuk Reloonuk now available", or whatever it would have been called as a trial.

Likewise, both times Tuliyollal was invaded would have made for a great dungeon experience. Well, having them both as dungeons would have been overkill, but one could have been a dungeon and the other could have been a solo battle instance. Imagine if the first time, we'd fought through the city and arrived at Sunperch too late (eliminating the complaints of "why didn't I try to do anything"). Or the second time, a Heroes' Gauntlet-style series of locations we'd already been, from Shaaloani to the Skybridge and finally to Tuliyollal proper.

The first invasion "suffered" from the problem of not having any Trust members available, but like... just use someone from the Landsguard. Or Zekowa or someone.

Of course, the real reason this kind of thing didn't happen is because we weren't at the proper level for a trial or dungeon. Hence the thread title: The rigid adherence to the odd-level dungeon structure with only three trials per main expansion? It hurts gameplay.

You may think I'm being too demanding, but, like... we pay money for this game, we're allowed to "demand".

[Jojoya]

You may think I'm being too demanding, but, like... we pay money for this game, we're allowed to "demand".

It's a shame you had to tack that onto the end, Karen. Being a paying customer does not entitle you to demand anything.

Demands only make it more likely you'll get ignored.

[PorxiesRCute]

It's a shame you had to tack that onto the end, Karen. Being a paying customer does not entitle you to demand anything.

Demands only make it more likely you'll get ignored.

That's why I put it in quotation marks. It's okay to have expectations for something you spend $180 a year on, not even counting the price of the expansion itself. As long as you're not rude about it, which I don't think I was.

Have anything to say about the rest of the post?

[Tarofel]

I pretty much agree. It's been nagging on me that the formula has felt so stale for years. I think it'd be very interesting to make a departure and mix it up, even with post-expansion patch content, though I understand it would make it more difficult to develop.
The only real restriction I'd say should be with Normal/Savage Raids and Ultimate content, which should be fairly strictly scheduled to ease issues with the raiding community.
Though I'd prefer not caring about how much of each type of content is in the expansion or afterwards, there would be some issues people would take if there were only two trials or such, or development pressure if there were four.
In a way, I miss the progression I felt with ARR. It's foolish to expect the exact same from years ago, especially in an MMO, I just like having variety and unexpected turns. If anything, I think Exploratory Voyages are a perfect place to experiment and not hold to any strict formula.