One to Fifty, One Zone - Long OP

When I was playing Closed Beta. I noticed this problem too.

My own personal hope was that when the game came to release. This level 1 to 50 in one zone would be addressed.

Something like the starter zones was say Rank 1 - 20, 25 at a push, but at rank 20 you had the option to go to Isengard. Then Rank 40 ish to the third Map.

How much you guys wanna bet the most we'll get in response to this is "we'll look into it"? This topic has come up countless times before and its always been ignored. The images Yoshida posted up a little while back talking about adding quest hubs made it look like they are adding a few aesthetic pieces here and there and calling it a day - it even looks like they are designing around what we already have in the Shroud today. I'm not hopeful but this is the single worst thing about this game I agree with almost everything that has been said in this topic.

Continued attention will lead to change. ^^

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Originally Posted by Mack

How much you guys wanna bet the most we'll get in response to this is "we'll look into it"? This topic has come up countless times before and its always been ignored. The images Yoshida posted up a little while back talking about adding quest hubs made it look like they are adding a few aesthetic pieces here and there and calling it a day - it even looks like they are designing around what we already have in the Shroud today. I'm not hopeful but this is the single worst thing about this game I agree with almost everything that has been said in this topic.

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The image of the quest hub was a bit alarming as I was hoping they were in more remote locations. They may be, and that image may be in some remote area of black shroud. But I think they would've made a bigger impact had they shown a quest hub in Mor Dhona.

I think this topic has some great discussion points, and it would be a damn shame if SE doesn't at least read through this. Even though I'm sure they are aware of these issues, perhaps they don't understand the severity of these deficiencies.

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Originally Posted by Zhyrios

Farcry 2 had a a huge seamless 50km squared map, with much higher graphic quality and diversity than any of FFXIV's zones. So what's their excuse?

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I'm going to go with, "memory issues due to high resolution textures.", or something along those lines. Too lazy to find the direct quote.

And i'd be the first to call bullshit. It's nearly impossible to have memory issues on modern PCs. And the 360 only has 512MB RAM and Farcry 2 looked amazing.

Then again... Farcry 2 also ran on a heavily modified CryEngine, so it had world streaming, which, as we all know, Crystal Tools does not. Source of the problem? Hell no. I'm sitting in Uldah at the moment, FFXIV is eating about 700MB. They can pump this A LOT more.

Walking through the "zone tunnels" in FF14 takes longer than a zone screen in FF11...

I'm pretty sure SE could cut out those tunnels and add shorter zone screens than what was in FF11.

Then make the smaller zones more interesting.

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Originally Posted by Enthy

Walking through the "zone tunnels" in FF14 takes longer than a zone screen in FF11...

I'm pretty sure SE could cut out those tunnels and add shorter zone screens than what was in FF11.

Then make the smaller zones more interesting.

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Yea no kidding.

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Originally Posted by Mack

How much you guys wanna bet the most we'll get in response to this is "we'll look into it"? This topic has come up countless times before and its always been ignored. The images Yoshida posted up a little while back talking about adding quest hubs made it look like they are adding a few aesthetic pieces here and there and calling it a day - it even looks like they are designing around what we already have in the Shroud today. I'm not hopeful but this is the single worst thing about this game I agree with almost everything that has been said in this topic.

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Yeah Mack I have a feeling they'll probably just pass along the ideas in this discussion and we'll get a "We have no current plans at this time to rework any of the zones past frontier hubs" which would be a very big mistake on SE's part. At minimum they need to address the progression from area to area and make it more significant. Above all else I think this has to be a top priority for them.

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Originally Posted by Richard

Yeah Mack I have a feeling they'll probably just pass along the ideas in this discussion and we'll get a "We have no current plans at this time to rework any of the zones past frontier hubs" which would be a very big mistake on SE's part. At minimum they need to address the progression from area to area and make it more significant. Above all else I think this has to be a top priority for them.

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Once they roll-out this battle overhaul it HAS to be #1 priority. Anything else would be just . . . dumb

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Originally Posted by Enthy

Walking through the "zone tunnels" in FF14 takes longer than a zone screen in FF11...

I'm pretty sure SE could cut out those tunnels and add shorter zone screens than what was in FF11.

Then make the smaller zones more interesting.

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I must agree you make a wonderful point.

I do not understand the purpose for such long, drawn out choke-points between areas. Is it to divide our world? To present the illusion of boundaries throughout Thanalan and the Shroud? In the end, we are still in the Shroud. Whether it takes 5(+?) minutes to run to Emerald Moss or not, we are still in the Shroud. We take out our map, and we can see it. We look through our mini-map, and we see it.

I do not believe the tunnels add to the illusion of a seamless world (as we are still confined by zoning), but actually detracts from it.

But, we must also consider this as well: If there was something worth seeing on the other side of that tunnel, the trip along the way would not bother us.

If the tunnel stood between new areas, a new level range, a new experience, defined goals, progression...

If when we crossed into the new areas, and we hit 'M', and our map has changed to something new... Then I do not mind tunnels. Or seams.

Traveling there should mean something. When a lower ranking player sees a higher rank preparing to travel, they don't sit and wonder where we are going. They know where we're going. We're already there.

Thanks again every one. :)