What are your hopes going into this live letter and expac?
My hopes for the live letter is that they'll show off some of the gameplay adjustments so we can have a little faith in what's going on. I think they know how skeptical some of us are.
I just really want all three tanks to feel balanced against each other (and have synergies with each other). As a career Tank now, I've personally gotten pretty tired of just playing WAR all the time, for everything, just because it's so much better. WAR everyday for dungeons, WAR for extremes (except Zurvan), WAR for FC content because the extra damage is nice, WAR for raid (when I was raiding). WAR can keep its damage, I just really hope they look at PLD and figure out what they want to focus on. In my opinion, that's trimming the low-use skills, making Block an important mechanic into playing PLD well, and increasing PLD's support abilities to the point where it might not be providing high raw damage output, but it harmonizes with the party to a point where it is paying off.
In terms of content, early in Heavensward I accepted that the team couldn't really think too much outside the box, it was just some kind of impossible task and they had to stay consistent. So that cut my playtime down a lot. Honestly a positive thing for me, so I'm not bothered. I still like the core game, I still enjoy the plot. I like running my Free Company and having a community. The game already makes me very happy in those respects, and those are the most important parts.
Diadem was disappointing, but in the end, I still think I like it and I want them to try again with Eureka. I'm not bothered by FATEs, I think it's something people get hung-up on too much. The only thing a FATE does is mark a place for you do "do the thing" and a method of delivering you a reward. I think what they really missed the ball on (and nailed it on the DoL side) was the rewards itself. RNG loot is not a good play, I hope they seriously consider NEVER doing it again. The hope I had for Diadem 2.0 loot was a consistent way of acquiring Relic items. If you could go to Diadem and it could help fast-track your relic, I think that would be much better than just...rolling a dice over and over and hoping you get a good piece of gear. The rewards from the Emergency Mission themselves were also lackluster and definitely needed to be looked at differently.
They already said Eureka is taking more hints from XI endgame zones. This is a must. SE has already nailed this type of gameplay once, all they need to do is look at how to make it easier and faster for a player to interact with the content.
It's a shame, because even in all the disappointment there are diamonds in the rough all over Diadem. A fond FC memory of mine is tackling the lower islands, exploring the zone, and fighting Kerkes, a Rank V mob. He's nothing out of the ordinary, nothing too special, but he has just enough going on to make him a threat. Combine that with all the little mobs around, like Heckyls and we had a serious battle on our hands. The Heckyls cast Vulnerability Up on us, and Kerkes would 1-shot someone with Revelation soon after, then buff himself. It was hilarious and exhilarating. Taking those types of encounters to the forefront, and actually balancing the rewards was the way to go with the zone, but they dropped the ball.
