Shmaboo
I'm going to begin by saying that I've come to despise playing on FF. For me, there simply isn't a point in playing it. I have a few 3k toons and a couple that I could level, but it seems fruitless to do so. They'll just wind up like my other 3k's. Whether it's working toward getting a 900 weapon or a certain master reagent, like a Faf eye or bible, "run this dungeon for a month and if you're lucky, it might drop" is just so incredibly dull. The EA server, for all its issues, was a breath of fresh air because I could see myself make progress. Whether it was replacing adm with named, obs with adm, obs with ench obs or even obs with marginally better obs, I could play and feel like something got done. I'd like to see a similar way to make progress in FF.
In other MMORPG's, when the game became breathtakingly dull, they didn't say "let's have them chase turkeys so they can collect tchotchkes that plop out of their cloacae". They introduced daily quests. Something new to do each day to keep the players occupied. We could do that here. One day, the quest could be "defeat a world boss", another could be "bring Iliana 25 goldenberries" or "kill 40 daemon kings". On some days, you could make it so only the paying customers could do the daily - like defeat the guy at the end of the Underground. The "bring" quests might even create a market for that commodity on the trading channel.
If we want to take it a step further, and why wouldn't we, the reward for a daily quest could be something like copper or silver, but a different currency. Let's call it platinum. A daily quest could reward 1 plat. Maybe harder ones could reward more, but that's a point for discussion. Then, master reagents and 900 level weapons could be sold at the Swap 'n' Shop for plat. Maybe 10 plat for a VoL or VoN, 30 for a bible, 50 for a Faf eye. 900 weapons could sell for 90 plat, or you could have a range of prices for the various weapons.
Let me be clear, I love this game. I just hate its current state. Consider this lighting a candle rather than continuing to curse the darkness.