I would love to see merits and level sync parties here in XIV. I find spirit bonding very tedious but I think I would enjoy it more if I could sync to friends who need to level or gain merits for doing so. Once again Id love for a more XI like party search and party flag option.

i love your idea with the harpoons Indira:
examples:
Lance = doomspike - does alot of damage, have bleed dot
Harpoon = doomspike - does modrate damage give 20sec tp gain.
Spear = doomspike - does mod dmg, reduce jump timer 5 sec per 100tp

Lance + jump = dmg w/dot
Harpoon + jump = jump ignores def
Spear + jump = jump give double dmg.

When tom said, "Gear swapping is problematic, because it's a cop-out for actual character building."
I would have to say I disagree. I would rather see the benefits added from full gear swaps attribute towards players skill and character building as right now it seems everyone's based on dps by being the fastest to spam buttons and use programs like mouse clicker to continuously repeat hit the main attacks.

In my opinion XIV already has a massive amount of potential and captivates me more then any of the mmo's out there. I wish it was a little harder, but I think only good can come out of Yoshi and the rest of the team by incorporating some of the things that made XI so wonderful. As much as I hear screams for a non xi-2 XIV I hear as many for them to make it a updated xi. Me personally I wouldn't mind a xi-2 like mmo, because nothing out there has ever captivated my attention or had me sneaking to bed at 5 am like FFXI did. Either way XI and ARR will be my mmo's and I await seeing the future of this game, the good, the bad and making it as memorable as my time in XI and the last three years of XIV.