Vote for or suggest the *1* improvement you most want to see ASAP in XIV

[Luluna]

Update the character creator with sliders/faces for every race

All races need new options not just the new ones as the old ones are stale.

[Stanelis]

More interesting gearing process and gear that actually makes a difference.

[Carin-Eri]

Unrestricted Glamour
Glamour is one of the game's biggest appeals to a lot of players, but its being restricted by level and Role/Job severely limits freedom of expression. I don't think the common arguments against it hold up anymore when considering some of the more recent additions to the game such as All Classes heavy armour, being able to toggle a player's Role/Job showing up in chat and above their head, but also the sheer amount of gear that goes against (or straight up doesn't match) its associated Role, particularly when you consider Jobs' different aesthetics, with Aiming (MCH and BRD and DNC all have very different vibes) and, to a lesser extent, Casting (RDM and floor length robes seems like a bad mix) probably being the worst offenders

Unrestricted Glamour
This gets my vote too.

To repeat something I said a while back in a thread specific to this subject - whatever 'reasoning' they have for restricting Glams is laughable when you find yourself in a team that looks like this:


So we can't possibly have a Warrior wearing the Panthean Casting Robe (for example) - that would be ridiculous and would break immersion... but a Frog in a bikini, two Chickens in bikinis, and Pumpkin are fair game?!

[Volgia]

Less cutscenes, more action

I want more solo duties and playable stuff during the MSQ, I want to be in control of my character more than watching 45 hours of people talking.

[antiabz]

Free expansion skip for characters on accounts that have already completed Dawntrail (assuming the next expansion has improved writing and is worth buying)

Because there is no way I'm either paying for a skip or forcing myself to play through that abomination again. So my Alts are dead.

[programcanaan]

Expand Character Height Ranges.

Bringing racial height averages closer together and allowing more customization.

[Valence]

More battle variety, dial down the DDR, dial down memory games
Give us meaningful choices in encounters again, bring back buffs and debuffs with flavor, stacks, priority targets, adds, and thing to juggle with beyond a static boss in a circle arena. Diversify encounter environments and pathways, and give the players actual agency instead of dumbly following a script at all times.

[hynaku]

Make all battle type quests a full party and not solo fights.

[Shougun]

Jobs aren't fun. The 2 minute meta doesn't work, and most jobs are way too homogenized within their role. This game is gonna die real fast if they don't make combat flow better, considering most content is only fun if the jobs are fun.

Thinking this (doesn't need to be entirely torn down but certainly modified), but just in general improving the roleplay gameplay of the whole game. Bring the R back to RPG. Not just the jobs. Mechanically speaking. Better roleplay for itemization, character skills, interactions with the world.

Have been playing WoW recently due to the warband / reception of TWW. It's not 100% better on all fronts, but there are things that were draining me here that are better there. Like feeling each class (job) is actually different. I prefer our job system because localizing it all to one character, especially as Warband hasn't smoothed out quest progression yet, but like... When I switch classes there I feel it, when I switch jobs here, except for specific exceptions*, I couldn't care less. PvP does better at this (actually notice what I am, frequently, and what others are, frequently), but PvP is just a sliver of the game . * Some exceptions, but uncommon, job gimmicks here are frequently less memorable and sometimes feel like an excuse to have a job gauge more than anything (imo).

I might not word it exactly like tear it all down, but I would want to apply this general vibe to all things. AT LEAST moving forward, in general the game whole game is feeling homogenized (as a quick lazy go to word), and heavily why I took a break. Maybe more politely I would say exceptionally streamlined and too lean.

There are many things I prefer about FFXIV, many things I might have misremembered from WoW (not as ugly as I thought), but one thing I had believed and posted here quite a bit (roleplay gameplay thread for example), and had massively reaffirmed after trying WoW, was that FFXIV feels quite a bit emaciated, at least, when it comes to /gameplay/. Visually, musically, story (even if its not doing so great recently), its packed. Gameplay? We're scrapping by when it comes to the R in RPG. R in RPG which isn't like thee E in Balmung RP, it's not all text and visual based, it's the gameplay immersion effect that makes you connect and touch down with what you're doing, and, imo, we're languishing here (have been for some time, but other elements carried it better- slipping here and there + familiarity have made the void more noticeable).

All this little stuff adds up, and FFXIV has very little little stuff. I'm sure this helps them move at a steady pace, maybe gives them peace of mind at the office, but as time goes I definitely feel more and more that they're at the office and not at a game studio. I'm sure, or hope, that as employees they're happy and having fun, but I am more challenged to see that is the case from how the gameplays. WoW is extremely evident to me that they're having fun, like they come to the office with a bunch of wild ideas and then actually do some of them (they haven't mastered the how to not make bugs, and at least recently evidently how to treat their employees.. ;/).

It's not one system, it's a systematic leanness that pervades everything. Besides character things, like items and skills, when we got our Island (which is visually cool) it was mostly an excel experience. While sure maybe WoW does more Abusing you with FOMO, or making bugs, lol, but, BUT, I have no doubt that if they were told to make Island Sanctuary content that it would have been vastly more gamified. Here zone A B and C visually appear different but hardly have a remarkable feature, almost all content from one space to the next could just be shuffled and you'd probably not know that it was (if you had your memory wiped). I was goofing off in a WoW zone and there are unique mechanic content scattered through most of the zones, with unique treasures, and the movement itself varied a bit depending on how you were playing (DH vs Druid vs others, due to the flight system it also takes in consideration the terrain vs just hold W to win).

The one element I would probably take back though is that the boss fights in this game tend to be, imo, more elaborate (and the UI way better to explain what is going on). One might argue good boss fights is an R for RPG, but if you have one A / A+ and 10 C, it still can average downwards (especially if you add time to it, where familiarity can dampen everything). I would also add that I've no doubt someone intelligent and skilled helped construct this leanness, to allow them to have such tight balance through different patterns, but that it's so clean that it bleeds together at this point. Too clean .

So... I guess tl;dr: Gameplay feels emaciated, the R and RPG is heavily neglected- specifically when it comes to gameplay mechanics.

Make crafting classes feel different or make one big omnicrafter class.

Why have eight different classes with the exact same buttons? Eight classes with unique gear (that no one uses because there's not enough glam plates to waste on functionally identical classes)? Make specializing matter, or just make all crafters just one thing.

Guys...

Fair, I did fail that :P. I'll spoiler tag it and leave it primarily as an agreement post w/ my own expansion of desire (which is true, this has been a major point of contention for me and a huge wish to see the game improve on)

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[Bunyon]

Can we sneak in "Fix portraits" into one of these? I don't know how the devs appear to have actually been actively playing the game for the past two years and did not once think "Hey, maybe we shouldn't default the portrait into a driving license photo every time I change something that doesn't even affect how the gear looks, because this is really REALLY annoying and happens ALL THE TIME".