Suggestions about 3.0 expansion and beyond

I know it's a bit early to speak about it but devs are in the middle of programming 3.0 right now i presume and it could be useful to give some suggestions or things possibly to avoid creating the expansion. What about to begin sharing ideas about it?


Areas
- New areas should be bigger (not enourmous and bland like 1.0 though). I know: bigger = less details because ps3. But maybe it's necessary to have a more sense of exploration and 'desolation'. And becasue if you add content on it, it'll not seem so crowd with lot people around. Areas should have much more interactive elements in the enviroment as well.

- I think it would be good to have some areas without already established teleports. You can maybe build a personal transportation (by crafting) to reach it fast, only after you reach that place and sanify the area (with specific mechanics of 'pioneering').

- Unexplored maps should not make visibile hubs, villages, crystals and stuff before explore it.


Sidequests
- In the new areas, quests should not be placed in specific hubs like the 2.0 but put around in every place so it'd be nice to find them just exploring, with some hidden ones too (ESO is a good example for it). So to have a more 'dynamic' progression and not in a schematic manner.

- Quests should be much more complex and some with different paths to complete. Some could be split in other ones or evolve themselves depend on the choises player makes.


Dungeons
- Eorzea really needs some open-world dungeons indeed. Where players go freely to explore in every moment without to be always bound with DF or complete party... finding random spawning treasures, gathering stuff, killing NMs, with traps and riddles to find secrets, and so on.

Idea: specific dungeons could have new mechanics, like the use of the torch, magic light or lantern to see in the very dark places (enemies will not be visibile or targetable if in the dark).

- Istanced dungeons should be much more complex and not a one-way only. More secrets to find and with different paths to be completed. And depend on you complete it, you'll receive more tomes or rewards (there was something about it in 1.0 and it was nice, why it's not in the 2.0?).
Put the possibility to explore the dungeon only after completed it, for a certain period of time without monsters (but you can reset it of course) without timer, to find secret treasures, rare gathering points or lore stuff -collectibles in a specific UI with arts- (writings on wall, books, ancient artifacts, etc.).


Misc
- In 1.0 there were real-time events like Garleand troups randomly appearing around camps or world-events like Dalamud approaching Hydaelyn every 2-3 months (or the newspaper men going around cities to ask questions or to give hints for the future lol.. it was very nice!).
Eorzea really needs random events like these and they should not be announced in the loadstone. To have a more lively/dynamic world.

- Add dreams in the game again like in 1.0 when log out/in in a bed, please. It was a really nice addition! And add more extra features like this.

- Really hope to see swimming/dive abilities and the possibility to builld own/fc boat to explore the ocean in 3.0 or around it.

- More 'dungerous' areas/places (in open-world) in which monsters are really strong and not a joke like now. Also you should avoid them in some cases or make some surviving choises to not die.

- Less tomes farming doing the same istances more and more (boring) -> more variety and difficulty in the new dungeons. And really need more 8 player dungeons.

- More useful/hi-level craftable armours and weapons. Some craftable equip should be almost on par with the dungeon/tomes drop to increase economy and to make crafters more important.

- Add much more 'life' around... only see some few fishes and birds around now (add butterflies, jumping crickets and frogs, etc.). Also more rare/random natural events like shooting stars, auroras and so on.

I agree with all of it :D.

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Originally Posted by Munba

Misc
- In 1.0 there were real-time events like Garleand troups randomly appearing around camps or world-events like Dalamud approaching Hydaelyn every 2-3 months (or the newspaper men going around cities to ask questions or to give hints for the future lol.. it was very nice!).
Eorzea really needs random events like these and they should not be announced in the loadstone. To have a more lively/dynamic world.

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I think they're called..... FATEs ><

(I got your point, just kidding :3)

See i liked the big desolation of 1.0 - especially Coerthas, I'd have built a log cabin in Coerthas and lived out the rest of my days in a mountainous bliss :)

Updates I wanna see have been covered above pretty much. I would like to see something similar to the hunts system of ff12 - but implemented server wide and with a limited number, so if someone in your FC happens upon one of these target distributors that they get that hunt and them alone, special item drops from them, titles or anything that can again broaden individuality.

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Originally Posted by Aeora

See i liked the big desolation of 1.0 - especially Coerthas, I'd have built a log cabin in Coerthas and lived out the rest of my days in a mountainous bliss :)

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Yeah until that Peiste NM attacks your cabin lookin for food!


As for suggestions, I think one of my biggest gripes about this game is lack of true exploration. The game right now has too many invisible walls hindering you from jumping up into that cool place you see up there, or simply hopping down into that stream down there. It's silly! The game seems to have this "you can look but you can't touch" policy.

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Originally Posted by Merle

I think they're called..... FATEs ><

(I got your point, just kidding :3)

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Eheh.
In any case, in those events some NPCs were moved by GMs themselves and it was so cool to interact with a real person behind a NPC.

For 3.0 all I want is the REAL Coerthas back. I miss the sprawling hills and mountainsides. And the zone music. I'd sit at Dragonhead for hours and just chill out there.

http://www.gameranx.com/img/11-Dec/ffxiv03.jpg

http://img2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb2...s_Coerthas.png

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Originally Posted by KyroeFelix

For 3.0 all I want is the REAL Coerthas back. I miss the sprawling hills and mountainsides. And the zone music. I'd sit at Dragonhead for hours and just chill out there.

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The lush green lands of Coerthas is gone forever, frozen by an sudden unforgiving ice storm
(Shiva<< speculation) which might be revealed after they give access to the Holy See of Ishard.

as for the areas being bigger i doubt it. they pretty much programmed the game old school where the whole zone is loaded into memory good old .BSP and they have to keep everything within 256mb thanks to the PS3.
even some older games had a portal type of system that lets the area "stream" which is standard in a lot of 3rd party game engines. its loads the games into chunks and pre caches the next piece of the zone, and you have the unrealED system where it does that and only shows whats in the cameras view being processed.
even 1.0 did a crappy version of that but it just loaded the other parts of the zones when you walked in the narrow tunnels, and if someone was with you they would disappear then you see them pop up again.

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Originally Posted by Munba

world-events like Dalamud approaching Hydaelyn every 2-3 months
- Add dreams in the game again like in 1.0 when log out/in in a bed, please. It was a really nice addition! And add more extra features like this.
- Really hope to see swimming/dive abilities and the possibility to builld own/fc boat to explore the ocean in 3.0 or around it.

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- Approaching Dalamud was one of Best features in 1.0 for me , there was all time feeling that something changes , world changes (well in the end it changed XD) so i totally agree for something similar :D
- Dreams was good to , they has some mystery in them , so +10 to dreams
- Swimming/dive ! when i played AC4 i was wonder if we ever see open sea content , cuz actually Eorzea is surrounded by water (like about every FF) so there is a big "playground" for Ship adventures , pvp pattles & just diving explorations !