Before you post or even read this, you should realize that CoP was a good expansion pack overall. If you can't see that, then your opinion won't mean much and will only derail the focus. Also, if you are Maxxthepenguin, your opinion won't mean a single god damn thing, don't post here.
SE seems to blame any problem about CoP on the fact they wanted to create a good story. They may have suceeded, but that isn't a good reason. There is no need to sacrifice 'good drop rate' for 'bad drop rate'. I don't see how that would interfere with cutscene time or plot developement. I don't see how ToUA being less focused on the story will help it be better.
Anyway, assuming we realize all the good and inovative things CoP has brought to us. Let's look at the issues that harm the good or were simply just bad altogether. After looking at it, let's think of ways to improve it.
Level Caps
Problem:
When you think about it, level caps were not that bad. Like or not, they did add a challenge to CoP that RoZ could not provide. They also allowed people who are not at cap enjoy missions with their higher level buddies without making it babysitting. Level-capped battles and ENMs are fine.
However, there are two problems. First, armor. Second, just because battles are fine leveled cap, doesn't mean whole zones are. It made a lot of zones almost entirely useless. Another but more indirect problem was the fact that SE nerf'd non-meriting people who exceeded the cap. This got rid of the idea that friends with different levels can exp with each other or building a buffer that you could lose on the way to the mission fight.
Solution:
SE should release more level adjusting gear. Nothing to totally defeat the purpose of gear 30-60, but nothing too crappy. HQ STR rings are better than Rajas at the right levels. Armor storage was good start however.
Its unlikely SE would just drop the level cap of entire zones, lets just be happy there will be a lot less in ToUA. SE should however let exp be based on the current level. It would open up more camps on other level ranges and won't scare away people who can level there a few levels below the cap on DC/EMs to people of the cap.
The Three Wyrms
Problem:
The Wyrms had bad drop rates and large repop times. They are entertaining enough and would be very nice additions if it wasn't for their loot pools. It's best to say in advance, "give it abjurations", isn't going to happen, so let's just stop thinking about it.
Solution:
The longer it takes a monster to pop the bigger and stabler the loot pool should be. SE might be adding to them already, as of the BG interview about a year ago. To be fair, there has been no additions of spells to their lot pools because there has been no additions to spells at all. However, with ToUA there is a chance. Like level caps, this isn't as much as a problem as other stuff in coP.
Sea
Problem:
Probably considered the biggest disappointment of CoP, despite being somewhat barable. In theory, Sea sounds perfect. The Organ quest that gives a hMP earring, WS boosting damage gorgets, and nice obis for BLM. It gave access to several awesome exp monsters(even in small groups). It was the gateway to Limbus. Because of sky, people looked to sea to have a good set of HNMs to farm on a weekly basis.
Jailers were added. They were challenging and unique. However, it was their drop pools that were the problem. While they could use some money drops, it was their horrible drop rates that was the killer. Ix' and Tier 1 not dropping is not good. The fact that Tier 2 could sometimes not drop and AV could sometimes not appear was bad, but the fact that it happened a lot was even worse. The torques, the best drops of the Jailers, didn't have the a very good drop rate either.
Once again, to make the bad even worse, some of the monsters are very glitched. AV isn't killable without an exploit.
Solution:
There is really two(or three, if you combine them) ways of fixing Sea. 1. Increase the drop rates by a very good amount(Jailers should be 100%, but Ix's not being 100% is acceptable). This includes stuff like Torques as well. 2. Increase the loot pools of Jailers to include money drops or more(and better) rare/ex armor. Apparently the bad drop rates isn't intended, but they have yet to be fixed, along with the various of monster problems.
CoP Dynamis
Problem:
The second huge disappointment and overall the worst out of CoP. Though, its fair to say Dynamis-Tavnazia hasn't been thoughly explored, but its likely not to be all that great considering that most of it has. CoP Dynamis gave an interesting challenge, even if the subjob thing got old after the 2nd or 3rd time, showing that SE knows how to make good gameplay. However, it also showed that they truely need to fix their reward system.
The belts were nice, but that was it. Its possible because of the number of people, but CoP Dynamis had horrible drop rates on currency and Relic armor compared to the three cities. The final nail on the coffen was the god awful Relic+1 armor, which involved such minor bonuses like +HP equal to the amount the original armor had +MP. To get this tiny bonus you would a lot of money(35 * your current currency price). This lead back to the original problem, getting 1/10 of the amount currency you'd normal get. Relic+1 is seen as the worst armor ever brought into the game.
Solution:
When BG talked to SE about it, they said "We'll we are going to do something different with it". Not suring what the hell they meant, it only was made more confusing when they showed that their excellent plan was the currency-less CoP Dynamis. It's pretty clear what the best fix would be. Make CoP Dynamis give a lot of Currency. One LS was able to get FOUR 100 pieces off a boss. That doesn't just happen. It's probably what SE had intended but did it wrong and now its all glitched up and not dropping. The idea of the bosses of the zone dropping several hundred pieces would make Dynamis very attractive to people wanting to get a Relic weapons. It would almost make the toughness worth it compared to how easy other Dynamises are(save Xarcabard's DL).
It would be awesome if SE went in and changed Relic+1 entirely. We know its possible, but it probably won't happen. This could backfire however. People actually wanting Relic+1 would only make it harder for people who want Relic weapons. They should only really should do it if they do the suggested increase amount of currency.
I'd like to talk about this and reach the best possible solutions. From there, I'd like to spam SE with NA and JP suggestions. SE is clearly not getting the correct information from Allakazham and they aren't reading these forums(if they were, we'd be able to cyber with our NPCs months ago).