So I've been playing a lot of FFXI while waiting for ARR beta to start and I had a sudden thought, "How amazing would it be to see an area like sky or sea with ARR's graphics engine?" Now, I was a die-hard FFXI fan for about 4 years, and even though abyssea and GoV parties really ruined the game for me I still find Sea to be one of the most incredible areas in any video game, even with XI's 10 year old graphics.
What I would love to see are areas similar to sky and sea, unlocked after progressing so far into the story missions, and have them be dedicated to end-game. FFXI pulled this off really well because you only had to do the missions and unlock the areas if you were interested in end-game. And I don't know about any of you but I like working for my end-game content, not just slapping a party together, going to the dungeon/primal fight, finishing or wiping, and then disbanding like is seen in so many modern MMOs. You miss out on that sense of community that playing in an MMO should give you. Besides not only does it add end-game content but it also adds to the feel of the storyline, especially in 11, being able to actually go to the places that are mentioned throughout the story was pretty badass.
The sad part about it though is I kinda don't think ARR will have stuff like this, mainly due the fact that they're focusing more on instanced end-game, and I think that's a big mistake. It's way too linear with instanced content, for example, you have the choice to run dungeons A, B, or C, you go finish the dungeon, and that's that. It's the same everytime you run it. With end-game zones though, like sky for example, it's more like, ok we can go farm these NMs and finish a genbu or byakko pop, or try and get both items for a seiryu/suzaku pop. Sea was the same way, but it even had an additional end-game zone inside of it. Both areas offer much more variety in how you want to progress over the course of several days, and you don't get burned out nearly as fast as you would grinding the same dungeons I think. These are just my opinions on the matter, but what do you guys think? Would you like to see unlocked areas as part of the storyline? And Yoshi-P, I trust you with ARR and think you're doing a great job, but if you see this post please, PLEASE, consider what I've said