Suggestion: Burn Gridania and the Black Shroud Down and Start Over

I was hoping the Black Shroud would have been more opened like Sarutabaruta. Hey, a blast from this Bahamut I've been hearing about should be able to open the area up a bit.

That would do more then open it up.

The best they could viably do is turn sections into open area using the textures and models they have. For example turn Bent Branch zone into an open area. Problem is it's a lot of additional work as each quest, guild leve, behest, mining and botany point has to be altered to fit. They'd be better off redesigning an area that isn't used yet like Crimson Bark and its surrounding nodes. But that's only 1/5 of the Shroud. I'd rather they spent any large scale development time on future unimplemented zones. It's obvious we'll see another forest zone some way down the road if the game survives, maybe then we'll get the Ronfaure type forest we want.

I love Gridania and Twelveswood (Black Shroud, as you outlanders call it)! We'll burn all those who have anything against our lovely Twelveswood!
Yeah, and it is quite funny to take some clueless fellow deep into the woods, make him touch some aetherial gate there, and then look at his attempts to find his way back (need to make sure first that he has no anima left). After some time you can ransom him almost any amount to show the way back. Actually, I think it's too simple, as most folks tend to find their way back sooner or later. They should add more complex areas deeper in the woods and make teleport unavailable there. Robin Hood and his outlaws will camp there, and I will certainly join them.
No, really, after finishing Doom and Doom 2, I think Twelveswood is really very simple. There is nothing to change there, except maybe make it's so called "labirynths" more complex and add some traps for the most clueless.
I think the Black Shroud is the best area in the whole game so far, but I still haven't got the time to visit Coerthas and Mor Dhona yet.

I have sent this in feedback a number if times already, Minus Gridania. The black shroud needs to be redone completely if they expect people to like going there.

I'm actually surprised people are confused by the Black Shroud. I thought it was a lot more straightforward than La Noscea, for instance. I started out in Gridania and although it takes a bit to walk anywhere, I always just saw it as "one way there", which you can see on the map. Elevated places and such are different colors, so it's not too confusing if you need to go up or down to get somewhere.

Going to La Noscea for the first time, though! "HAHA, YOU HAVE FALLEN TO A SLIGHTLY LOWER ELEVATION! NOW YOU WILL HAVE TO WALK ALL THE WAY AROUND!" And I tried to find this one fishing spot and I couldn't, for the life of me, figure out how the heck to get there. As it turned out, there's a random cave in ANOTHER spot that I had to walk into and go underground to get there. From the map I couldn't really tell that was the way I was supposed to go, especially when the only hint was that I needed to go to a lower elevation and there was a beach right below me.
Not that I would change it; I just found it more confusing than I ever found Gridania/The Black Shroud.

I kind of like that The Black Shroud is unpopular; it means I can go there and harvest/fish/quarry stuff that almost no one else is.

I'd be fine if they changed it to open things up a little more or reduce the walking time, but I never found it nearly as confusing as Yuhtunga/Yhoatar.

No need to burn it down completely.

Just say add a new outpost tower or throw in some unique looking trees in one of the camp areas so that something unique defines each part of the zone.

So my request has been accepted.


Mission Accomplished.

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Originally Posted by Cairdeas

I'll be the first to say, I love the appearance and atmosphere of Gridania, but it and the Black Shroud are way too maze like and repetitious.

The Poem given to us by Yoshida seems to hint that some things will be destroyed in the future and a time of turmoil will start. I know I'm not the only one hoping that means someone sets a forest fire.

I wish it was a little bit more like San d'Oria then Crawlers nest to be honest :/

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Cairdeas, I am with you.

But I don't need a cutscene or a storyline.

I would be happy to log in and just see my grid gone. No storyline needed.

BURN IT DOWN.

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Originally Posted by Eisah

I'm actually surprised people are confused by the Black Shroud. I thought it was a lot more straightforward than La Noscea, for instance. I started out in Gridania and although it takes a bit to walk anywhere, I always just saw it as "one way there", which you can see on the map. Elevated places and such are different colors, so it's not too confusing if you need to go up or down to get somewhere.

Going to La Noscea for the first time, though! "HAHA, YOU HAVE FALLEN TO A SLIGHTLY LOWER ELEVATION! NOW YOU WILL HAVE TO WALK ALL THE WAY AROUND!" And I tried to find this one fishing spot and I couldn't, for the life of me, figure out how the heck to get there. As it turned out, there's a random cave in ANOTHER spot that I had to walk into and go underground to get there. From the map I couldn't really tell that was the way I was supposed to go, especially when the only hint was that I needed to go to a lower elevation and there was a beach right below me.
Not that I would change it; I just found it more confusing than I ever found Gridania/The Black Shroud.

I kind of like that The Black Shroud is unpopular; it means I can go there and harvest/fish/quarry stuff that almost no one else is.

I'd be fine if they changed it to open things up a little more or reduce the walking time, but I never found it nearly as confusing as Yuhtunga/Yhoatar.

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Eisah, we just have higher IQ than most others. That is the reason why it is easy to navigate in the Twelveswood for us, and difficult for them. But instead of trying to become smarter those savages just want to destroy such a marvelous place.
La Noscea isn't actually that hard either, and there is one really beautiful underground location called Cassiopea's Hollow.
Seriously, the locations are the best part of the game so far. And crafting too. Everything else is only good for kids.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Cairdeas

So my request has been accepted.


Mission Accomplished.

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Good job captain

I'm not confused about Twelves wood. I was really just hoping for something more like Sanctuary of Zi'Tah then Yhoator.

No need to remove Grid/BS completely, just expand the routes slightly to give space for extra mobs and a bit of variation etc. I find Limsa more frustrating to navigate, does it really have to be so up and down,? If all the shops/guilds/tavern were all on one level with just the docks being on the level below it might make for a better layout to traverse howver I do like the music in LL to any other city, sticks in my head more. Because of the up and down of LL I decided on U'ldah on release, glad I did, much easier to get around with all the little shortcuts and seems to be the hub of the game atm.

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Originally Posted by Demacia

This. XIV has the most boring and poorly designed world I've ever seen in an MMO.

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I completely agree. XI zones are magical put that art director to work! Akihiko Yoshida does wonderful characters but these zones have NOTHING special in them. I can literally walk 3 meters to a grassy field that looks like Limsa in real life and that grassy field looks just as boring.

As extreme as this request is, I'd have to agree. The Shroud is more like a dungeon in it's design and not an open forest like Zi'Tah was in XI. Not saying I want this game to be a recreation of XI (maybe I kinda do in a way), but mostly to give a reference to something that actually worked as a zone and left an impression.

Actually, The Shroud is more like The Boyada Tree than Zi'Tah. Which I find to be unacceptable.