What would be ideal Patch Cycle? (Long forum post)

[CNitsah]

if we getting content like this? 1 month.
if we get content like we got before EW, 3 month.
the quality of the content is the deciding factor here

Patch cycle doesn't really matter. The issue is content longevity /relevance. Even a 1 month patch cycle wouldn't be seen as enough if the patch content could all be done and dusted in an hour or 2 of game play..

This games issue is that it has an absolute ton of content. But at the same time it has next to none. Because 99.9999% (half sarcasm) of it isn't worth doing or has been brutally trivialise by the unsanctioned system allowing players to smash years of content in minutes.

Then everyone says there bored and there's nothing to do..

The other issue is patches contain so little content that players grind the hell out of it because it's the only thing worth doing... which makes it get super old and tedious super quickly.

Was it that hard to read the first post in a ten post long thread before answering out of the subject. I swear to god, some of the forum dwellers are just answering to what they think the subject of a thread is, without even checking the first post...

[Kohashi]

Increments of 3 month patch cycle

Example of a 3 months patch

3 new dungeons
1 ally raid
1 chaotic raid
1 Savage tier (4 fights)
1 relic stage

New stuff to craft
Fates
New Glam added (hairstyle, portrait... etc)
Increase drop rates of stuff that is 6 months old.

at 6 months aside from the things above:

1 Ultimate
A revamp of at least 1 Old element. (random mention: Meaningful rewards for Criterion dungeons, Glamour system.. etc)

at 1 Year mark

a big zone akin to Eureka

[Sekundessounet]

Gotta keep in mind that developing something takes time and "throwing more money at it" doesn't make things actually go that much faster. Also I'm not much into crafting, so I won't list much of it.

Anyway, here's my take :

x.0 (Expansion release)

- Any of the new system features shown at FanFest
- MSQ (won't go into the specifics of how to improve it, but more voice acting and more varied quest design in a nutshell)
- The 8 dungeons and 3 trials are fine, if we wanted to improve it, maybe Final Boss EX could be in here already, having a fight for accessories, a fight for armor and a fight for weapon.

x.01/x.05

- Normal and Savage raids, I think the delayed schedule is fine
- PVP Update and season (reworks, map can be later), put rewards of past expansion's series into the trophy crystals shop (or, if you really want to drip feed it, sequence it : 6.1 rewards unlocked in 7.1, 6.2 in 7.2, etc)
- Unreal 1 (having the feature disabled 4 months is not great)
- Hunt : have group hunt bills that work like Treasure Hunts mobs : you track it somewhere and make it spawn for your group.

x.1 :

- If Final Boss EX is in .0, have the trial series start here with the first EX of the series
- If Final Boss EX on this patch, have the story of the trial series start here as a sort of teaser, maybe with a nice instanced battle
- MSQ with a dungeon
- Alliance Raid 1 (optional : make the gear upgradable like tome gear, creating new BiS and builds)
- Allied Society 1 (combat)
- Custom Deliveries 1
- Unreal 2
- Anything PVP
- x.11 : Ultimate 1 (delaying it one week after patch is a good call)

x.15 :

- Savage unlock (optional : story quest for the raid, if it benefit the story's pace and content)
- Tomestone cap raise
- Chaotic 1
- Relic step 1, tied to exploratory zone with optional farming methods
- Exploratory zone 1, or if too much to handle for the devs at this pace, have an introductory questline like suggested for the trial series, it was done well with Bozja (even if Memoria EX was kinda wack)
- Any serialized questline (Hildibrand, Tataru, etc)
- Housing updates
- Variant/Criterion 1, have gearing options tied to Criterion, making 4 ways to have potential BiS/build options (optional : create a Variant Roulette with funny modifiers that apply if no first timers are in the instance)

x.2 :

- MSQ with dungeon
- Trial series + EX
- Savage tier
- Optional : alliance raid story quest (same idea as for savage)
- Unreal 2
- Allied Society 2 (gathering)
- Anything PVP

x.25 :

- Relic step 2
- Exploratory zone 1/Exploratory zone update or expansion
- Questlines follow-up
- Crafting/gathering zone (like Ishgard Resto or Cosmic Exploration)

x.3 :

- MSQ with dungeon and EX if end of storyline
- Trial series EX or story quests with instanced battle
- Alliance Raid 2
- Allied Society 3 (crafting)
- Custom Deliveries 2
- Unreal 3
- Anything PVP

[Sekundessounet]

Part 2 :

x.35 :

- Savage unlock and potential story quests
- Tomestone cap raise
- Chaotic 2
- Relic step 3
- Exploratory zone 2
- Questlines
- Variant/Criterion 2
- Deep Dungeon
- Crafting zone update

x.4 :

- MSQ with dungeon
- Trial series + EX
- Savage tier
- Optional : alliance raid story quest
- Unreal 4
- Allied Society 4 (new concept?) or capstone quest for all 3
- Anything PVP

x.45 :

- Relic step 4
- Exploratory zone update or expansion
- Questlines follow-up
- Crafting zone update

x.5 :

- MSQ with dungeon and EX if end of storyline
- Trial series EX or story quests with instanced battle (would be nice to have a true final boss though)
- Alliance Raid 3
- Allied Society capstone if not done before
- Custom Deliveries 3
- Unreal 5
- Anything PVP
- x.51 : Ultimate

x.55 :

- MSQ
- Savage unlock and potential story epilogue quests
- Tomestone cap raise or straight up unlock
- Chaotic 3
- Relic step 5
- Exploratory zone 3
- Questlines end
- Variant/Criterion 3
- Deep Dungeon update ?
- Crafting zone update


Here you go, even number patches looks smaller but their content is meatier and doesn't need elaborating I think. Probably a lot could be improved so feel free to criticize.
Actual content needs ressources to be able to maintain the suggested pace, but things like savage unlock and tomestone cap would be great and don't cost anything.

[Khryseis_Astra]

- Any serialized questline (Hildibrand, Tataru, etc)

You mention the Tataru quests; I really enjoyed those and I’d definitely like to see something similar again… a nice multi-part story starting at the beginning and getting an update each patch, giving glam, barding and portrait/plate elements along the way. An enjoyable story with low-effort rewards. Unless I missed it, I don’t see anything like that on the list for DT’s schedule. It’s nice to have something like that to do alongside the more grindy content.

In general though, I like the idea of front loading the expansion with more of the long grinds… they have multiple parts to begin with, so start them a little earlier. Also the mix of casual vs. raiding content needs to be adjusted. There was literally nothing to do the last few weeks other than grind Chaotic or Ex3, beyond the custom deliveries quests that can only be done once a week, and the painfully short Hildy intro quest. Maybe there’s main story reasons we couldn’t have had Cosmic Exploration or Shades Triangle earlier, but I hope they look at that when planning out 8.0.

I’d also like to see the housing updates pushed earlier and more furnishings, glam outfits and hairstyles pushed out every patch, and this stuff should not be locked behind harder difficulty level duties. There’s still quite a backlog of contest winners entries to be implemented! When things are slow I decorate, glam and/or gpose. Adding an instanced housing option to the existing ward system is long overdue… I don’t care if they put it on the Island or whatever, but they need to look at the cost/benefit analysis of hoping people stay subbed for their house (which remember folks, the player base at the time asked for auto-demo because of lack of supply!) versus people unsubbing because they feel like they have nothing to do! The interior updates are great and the plans to allow size changes to interiors are a step in the right direction, but it doesn’t help if you can’t get a house in the first place! So far, the interior remodel doesn’t apply to apartments and FC rooms.

But long story short, they need to mix up their schedule more so it doesn’t feel like there’s “nothing to do” for large chunks of the player base at any given time. At this point, I’m probably going to go back to Eureka to farm for more dyeable glam. lol

[Xerosleep]

I already did a thread like this and said:
X.0 Usual stuff
X.01 Normal raids
X.02 The Savage patch (instead of X.05)
X.05 Relic/Exploration Zone intro. Criterion stuff with a weekly lockout giving an Alliance Style coin and Bis Accessories from normal mode
X.1 usual Catch up but also drop Chaotic here
X.11 Ultimate
X.15 more Relic/exploration
X.2, X.4 the usual
X.25,X.45 same as X.05, drop some deep dungeon, blue mage, beastmaster somewgere
X.3,X.5 same as X.1
X 31,X.51 more Ultimate
X.35,X.55 Same as X.15