Quote Originally Posted by VeyaAkemi View Post
This cannot be understated, older dungeons did have optional stuff, but it became the norm to ignore those alt paths and just go down the exact same path every time, the current state of dungeon design is the dev response to that, a shrug of going "Well, I guess that's what people want...".

When was the last time you saw someone check the note at the start of Sastasha for the right button at the coral segment? almost always a long time if you don't do it yourself, or do the puzzle correctly at Qarn? well it's faster to not do the puzzle, so people will ignore it, I once had a Tank that was going out of their way do the puzzle, and one of the DPS demanded me to Rescue the Tank to get them moving, I didn't, partly because I literally couldn't, I was new to the game and that Healer was low level enough that I didn't have the skill, but still shows the attitude around it.
Part of that is also because of the reward structure. The puzzles in Qarn, for example, were interesting to some because their loot could be used to craft different gear. There is an optional treasure chest in Haukke Manor that drops an item one can use to craft housing items. Most people jumping into roulette were not after those specific items, so of course they were skipped. Does not mean those bits did not have a reason to exist, do you know what I mean?

Imagine a dungeon that offers an optional path with an extra boss. Takes 5 extra minutes, but the boss itself gives extra weekly tomes, and an item thats part of a glamour set. Suddenly, there is an incentive to run the extra route.
Other mechanics exist that did not alter the dungeon structure, but rewarded the player differently. Saint Mociannes Hard had this interesting bit where you could wash mobs to make them weaker. One party member just had to open a valve, and the tank had to pull the enemies through them. These are small thing that make dungeons more interesting than the current "wallpull wallpull boss" structure. Those ideas have kinda been incorporated into Variant Dungeons, and I really hope Variant Dungeons influence regular dungeons a bit more going forward.