This game has WAY bigger issues than some server problems.

[Duelle]

Items are boring
There is no creativity to be found in constructing your gear set. Item level > main stat > all. Artifact Armor is the same as level 5 quest armor, with higher and more numbers. You think this isn't a problem? Ask Blizzard how people felt about Diablo III's loot.

Ask blizzard about a single-player game with an online element? How's that relevant to an MMORPG like FFXIV? If you were asking for tier set bonuses like WoW does I may get behind your cause, but single effect situational gear is the bane of the modern MMO.

the quests which directly follow that (at least for Jobs) are certainly not much better. Despite the potential of the level sync system, backed by hints and even an easy mode for players who've lost, they've stripped these quests of interesting content and made them purely a "MMORPG" experience (and not a fresh take on it, but the regular lowered expectations of combat system not mattering and quests teaching nothing), not a "Final Fantasy" one.

MMORPG > Final Fantasy in this case. Which isn't saying much as Final Fantasy games aren't exactly difficult outside of low level challenges.

1) There is no sense of danger in the world

Which encourages exploration. Not a bad thing.

the onslaught of FATE alliance parties will make these events nothing more than EXP grab-bags.

That was kind of the point of FATE, so there's no issue here.

3) This game is being molded in a way that ACTIVELY discourages servers from having a sense of community outside individual Free Companies (and perhaps, linkshells, but those are also falling to the wayside)

There's a reason the social networking has been incorporated into the Lodestone. I don't facebook and my twitter account is gathering dust somewhere, so I am somewhat new to this stuff as a whole, but it is possible to meet people and make friends through FATE and even questing. Hell, I did a two-man group doing random things after trying to get mobs for a quest in East Thanalan that led to us joining forces for FATE, and ended up adding them to friends at the end. If you're worried about e-fame or whatever, you'll get no sympathy or support from me.

Too many traits which take a boring ability and make it slightly less boring 10-20 levels later.

While I agree that the traits are lackluster when it could have been baked into general class scaling, most of the abilities have a solid foundation.

Aegis Boon - Fully blocks a hit and heals you.
Divine Veil - Raises block chance to 100% for the duration and spreads a regen effect to allies when Cure is cast on you.
Outmaneuver - Raises block chance and restores TP/MP on block.
Rampart - Raises defense. Is AOE. Generates enmity for every party member you hit with it.
Sentinel - Mitigates incoming damage and increases enmity generation during the effect.

Aegis Boon - We got something similar but without the heal. This is fine.
Divine Veil - Not needed given the current pace of combat. Our job is to stay alive and hold aggro, let the healer worry about AoE healing.
Outmaneuver - Not needed given the current design for combat. TP generation was there because we started with 0 TP and needed an additional way to generate it. MP regen is built into Riot Blade's combo.
Rampart - Again, not needed. GLA and PLD have a very solid enmity generation system that gets only better once you bring Shield Oath into the mix.
Sentinel - This has always crept dangerously close to unreliable because of the effect length and the cooldown at the time it existed. Tanking, much like healing, needs consistent and reliable abilities and mechanics in order to properly work. The damage reduction is part of the GLA set of abilities, and the bonus enmity is simply not needed given our array of abilities that generate aggro.

What is going on with their MP use (and how is Riot Blade useful)?

Now you smell like a troll that hasn't played GLA or PLD. Flash will eat up your MP quickly if spammed, and any tank worth his salt will learn to blend in Riot Blade combos into their rotation to maintain their MP pool as best as they can.

Where is a viable Cure?

PLD/GLA is a tank, and thus doesn't need "viable cures" mid-combat. We have access to Cure from Conjurer, which falls more under utility like Raise and Protect; utility that's nice but won't make the class non-functional if you don't end up using them. This is fine, seeing that the FF Paladin is basically a knight with access to weak magic.

there is very difficult to differentiate players from each other (like I said, no room for creativity)

Mechanics and aesthetics separate one player from the other. Messing with stats only makes balance wonky, which then makes gear design and encounter balance even more difficult than they have to be.

[Gramul]

Which encourages exploration. Not a bad thing.

Except I feel no accomplishment in it.
1.0 may have had repetitive environments, but sneaking to a crystal marker around level 70 enemies was a real rush.

[Duelle]

Except I feel no accomplishment in it.

Really? Paraphrasing my litany:

Go write a book. Plant a tree and make it grow. Build something. Try to set a world record on a random shoot-em-up game. There's plenty you can do to feel accomplished. Unveiling the portion of a map in an MMORPG...LOL...

[Gramul]

Really? Paraphrasing my litany:

Go write a book. Plant a tree and make it grow. Build something. Try to set a world record on a random shoot-em-up game. There's plenty you can do to feel accomplished. Unveiling the portion of a map in an MMORPG...LOL...

I don't care about those accomplishments right now. I work out, I draw, I write, I sculpt, I have a job, I get plenty of real life accomplishment. But right here? Right now? I'm talking about the exploration of this game.
I liked that feeling of accomplishment from finding areas guarded by dangerous monsters, so LOL to you too.
I am way too tired for this belittling crap alright?

[Duelle]

I don't care about those accomplishments right now. I work out, I draw, I write, I sculpt, I have a job, I get plenty of real life accomplishment. But right here? Right now? I'm talking about the exploration of this game.
I liked that feeling of accomplishment from finding areas guarded by dangerous monsters, so LOL to you too.
I am way too tired for this belittling crap alright?

I've been on both ends of the argument, and have come to realize the A-word gets abused and misused in the context of games so much it's not even funny. Real life accomplishments are quantifiable and are testament to what makes you as a person. And unless you're talking about world firsts in Heroic/Hard/Extreme mode, ridiculously high scores that require high amounts of skill to achieve, or completing set ups and situations that require meticulous planning, video games are never part of that list. Nihilum feeling accomplished about clearing Vanilla and TBC WoW and being the #1 raid guild in the world makes sense. Paragon got no argument from me when they were world first in killing Heroic Lich King. The dude in the video I linked probably also feels accomplished (to my knowledge, no one has broken that high score yet).

Sorry, but I'm not going to stop opposing people who want to derive accomplishment from things that will adversely affect others for the sake of their own egos (in this instance, because then we get crap like TAU and my friend the directionless who refused to do anything related to Aht Urghan after he lost a whole level dying while trying to get to an imp party). There's plenty that exists from which to derive feelings of accomplishment. I'm sure you'll be among the first to rush into the Coil of Bahamut on extreme as soon as you meet the item and stat requirements, so have a little patience.

[Gramul]

Sorry, but I'm not going to stop opposing people who want to derive accomplishment from things that will adversely affect others for the sake of their own egos.

Then we can be opposition buddies.
Let's hate hug.

I like dangerous exploration. It's one of the thrills I get from gaming. You may think a dangerous overworld adversely affects a player base and their fun, but having a soft world adversely affects me. So no matter what, someone's getting screwed and I hope you understand that I prefer it not be me.

[Duelle]

I like dangerous exploration. It's one of the thrills I get from gaming. You may think a dangerous overworld adversely affects a player base and their fun, but having a soft world adversely affects me. So no matter what, someone's getting screwed and I hope you understand that I prefer it not be me.

I'm rather quick to adapt, but I do know people like the aforementioned friend who paid good money for an expansion he ended up not getting anything out of. He knew his stuff when it came to combat but could get lost in a closet, while on /follow.

We're talking in context of playing A Realm Reborn. You know... That game we talk about on these forums?

Since you can't read between the lines: I find people who abuse and misuse the word "accomplishment" like the person I quoted in the context of minor parts of a game to be silly.

Seriously, go pick up Touhou 7 and try to break that world record. If you do, you've accomplished something. Round-abouting a lv80 pig with true sight only to see the pretty lake on the other side of the brush =/= accomplishment. It's a neat thing to find, but that's pretty much it.

Edit: Even better, go and get world-first clear of hardmode Coil of Bahamut. I'll let you gloat about your accomplishment because you'll actually have accomplishmed something then.

[Argarah]

I agree with everything you said except.

PLD/GLA is a tank, and thus doesn't need "viable cures" mid-combat. We have access to Cure from Conjurer, which falls more under utility like Raise and Protect; utility that's nice but won't make the class non-functional if you don't end up using them. This is fine, seeing that the FF Paladin is basically a knight with access to weak magic.

Yes we do need "viable cures." What I love about FF Paladin's is their ability to sufficiently sustain themselves during battle, which gives the White Mage a better chance to manage the health to the entire party. Look I love paladin, I think they improved it a lot from 1.0, especially the enmity, but dang it. I need to have access to better cure spells.

[Kenka]

I agree with everything you said except.


Yes we do need "viable cures." What I love about FF Paladin's is their ability to sufficiently sustain themselves during battle, which gives the White Mage a better chance to manage the health to the entire party. Look I love paladin, I think they improved it a lot from 1.0, especially the enmity, but dang it. I need to have access to better cure spells.

While I think you have a point, I also think that they took a different approach to PLD's sustainability. I think that in the event of an OH SH- situation, PLD is supposed to turtle himself (2 damage mitigation cooldowns + 1 borrowed from marauder + Bulwark and Hallowed Ground that I have not been able to test yet) That should give enough time for the WHM or SCH to drop a big AOE to bring the party up.