Instance vs Open-World: what do you want more of?

I would like more content for the current locations to give players more choices to play how they want, and more options to Battlecraft Leves that are viable for parties.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Renik

@Kerberon

This is internet and i can be misread, i'm writing this calmed, serious and w/o bad intentions.

This thread is asking for preferences and instead you're trying to enforce your opinion.

I can understand you like instances, some ppl is just not made for open world, but it has as many cons as instanced content, you may want to have all the development resources put on designing instanced content, but MMOs are business and we are customers, and a good amount of those customers is asking for instance content, if you don't like it don't play it, they will keep releasing instanced content, but don't try to enforce your opinion to make us reject open world content because that's not gonna happen.

If i'm wrong and those are not your intentions, just help us to give feedback to make open world content you can enjoy.

---

I honestly trying to understand it, because every game I've played open worlds become empty wastelands after people level, and while some people are saying that open world is great they aren't actually giving reasons and I can't understand what they're liking about it other than a vague "it's what makes it an mmo" which doesn't make any sense to me.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Kerberon

I honestly trying to understand it, because every game I've played open worlds become empty wastelands after people level, and while some people are saying that open world is great they aren't actually giving reasons and I can't understand what they're liking about it other than a vague "it's what makes it an mmo" which doesn't make any sense to me.

---

Well neither does you want for stronger open world but at the same time lack of leashing because if you can you will avoid it.


Open world really is good (and bad) because of the experiences one can have in it but has limits because unlike the real world it has to be static in a way where new players can get to it eventually. My only issue with hard open world content, monsters breaking into your inn room to slaughter you in your sleep, choco corpses littering the zones is that new players will have to face this off the bat or if have to be placed out the way so most people will avoid it if given the chance. Unless there is a reward which even then it will eventually be left to die.

Fates are a good alternative but then you have the fates like required for animus which seem more rare then atma drops sometimes. The bounty system though seems leve like but a qued world event wouldn't be to bad such as a fate you can activate anytime after a count down to lure out some big monster for some drop (cosmetic).

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Kerberon

I honestly trying to understand it, because every game I've played open worlds become empty wastelands after people level, and while some people are saying that open world is great they aren't actually giving reasons and I can't understand what they're liking about it other than a vague "it's what makes it an mmo" which doesn't make any sense to me.

---

Back in the Long Long Ago, there was only open world stuff and no instances, which forced players to interact with their server in a much more intimate manner. That's the general gist of it.

Now how to make open world content and then not have it empty wasteland is the real pickle.

A living breathing world!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Calevr

I feel like sharing my first time with FFXI, it was the first MMO i had ever played. I had no idea what to do but i felt so overwhelmed with how big the world was. I started out as a Hume/Warrior fighting Tiny Mandragoras and Bumblebees straight out from the gates of Windurst. I remember my first ass whooping from a Yagudo and meeting this amazing person in a game. She really helped me to enjoy the game teaching me the things i needed to know and helping me complete quests. I had got to lv10 exploring most of Sarutabaruta, the Horutoto Ruins and Giddeus, with an adventurers attitude. I had played almost a week but it was an amazing start to the game for me.

---

A sense of adventure!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Calevr

Soon later we decided to leave our beautiful home and explore into the unknown, Tahrongi Canyon and then Buburimu Peninsula. We didn't know where we were going but it was exciting! We came across new enemies like the Bull Dhalmel and with no trouble we managed to make it to a small port town called Mhaura. After saying goodbye to my friend i got on the ferry and headed out to sea. I had such a blast on my first ferry ride, talking to other adventurers and watching people fish. It was a great experience! After fifthteen minutes on the ferry I got off in Selbina. There i got my first party and experienced a whole different side of FFXI.

---

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Kerberon

because every game I've played open worlds become empty wastelands after people level

---

I think this is where we differ. While you may see these places as empty wastelands, I see them as integral parts of the games environment. Something that can help breathe life into an interactive experience and make it more than just a game. Being able to participate in engaging and creative open world content is part of what makes a world feel alive. At least for me. That's where I get most of my enjoyment from games. Exploring and learning about the world, seeing new places, participating in off the fly low structure experiences. That's where the life of a game blossoms beyond a list of tasks and challenges.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Kerberon

I honestly trying to understand it, because every game I've played open worlds become empty wastelands after people level, and while some people are saying that open world is great they aren't actually giving reasons and I can't understand what they're liking about it other than a vague "it's what makes it an mmo" which doesn't make any sense to me.

---

And i agree with wastelands feeling, that's why i think the dangerous areas should be for high lvl players only, if you put on them rare crating mats and battles that drop tomes, these areas will always be not full of ppl but at least not empty, and after some time, when the lvl cap is raised, these areas will turn into camps for soloers and players gearing alts, also SE seems to be good recycling areas.

In terms of community, in my 8 years of FFXI (a game with lots of open word content and highly competitive) i only found 2 trolls, but in FFXIV since the ealry access i found more than 20, the cause is simple, in the open world you'll find ppl from your server, ppl you'll be seeing for years, but in DF you're anonymous.

And the most important part, it's fun hanging around helping random ppl.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Gramul

I think this is where we differ. While you may see these places as empty wastelands, I see them as integral parts of the games environment. Something that can help breathe life into an interactive experience and make it more than just a game. Being able to participate in engaging and creative open world content is part of what makes a world feel alive. At least for me. That's where I get most of my enjoyment from games. Exploring and learning about the world, seeing new places, participating in off the fly low structure experiences. That's where the life of a game blossoms beyond a list of tasks and challenges.

---

This is spot on.

Going to cross post this from another thread since it's rather relevant.

First you have to remember. Forum's by their nature are echo-chambers that tend to promote like-minded support. So be wary of posts agreeing with your topic.

Second is that putting beef-gate monsters on mandatory leveling paths will do but nothing discourage new gamers from getting into the game due to artificially roadblocking progression. New players are forced to beg for assistance, to merely play the game, as the game grows beyond those area via expansions and general gameplay longevity. So many have answered, "put tomes/loot on these mobs". But this just encourages spawn camping, and all the sundry issues that come with that.

But now even if the developers were to place tough mobs in the overworld, and put them out of the way, so as not to discourage players from continuing their adventures in Eorzea. What would be the reasoning behind this? Why would a player go to these places intentionally, repeatedly, and meaningfully?

For Loot?
For Tomes?
For Crafting Material?

Why couldn't they merely place these monsters within an instance and again prevent spawn camping issues?

I would rather like the idea of large open world dungeons and encounters that the community would have to go through
as individual worlds (or servers). Instead of making fights that are insanely hard, it would be nice if there were areas of the map
that you could never get far in alone or even a full party but with several parties. It would also be nice if the rewards for these
locations were extremely good as not to limit other players from experiencing the locations once the "hype" has gone away.
Which seems to be a problem with a lot of scenarios in the game is that only so many people are doing certain content.
You want to offer a reward to end game players that will ALWAYS be hot. Even if they may have completed such event or area before.

And not mundane crap like that has been happening. Like... weekly grind fests, or 2% drop rates.

We've all see how challenging open world content is. It just gets zerged. The win's couldn't be more free.

The only way to make them "challenging" is to add lots of unforgiving mechanics, but even so, just raise up and run back in.

I agree they need to do more open world content that isn't so heinous (atma).

But i don't think anything that's zergable will ever be much of a challenge in FFXIV.

"Camping"

Have you never done a Quest/Treasure Map/Leve in the open world? You can't claim or attack monsters that arent yours. Seriously - saying you don't want open world content because you don't want claim wars is ridiculous. They obviously have the ability to lock claims on targets to specified characters. Add to open world zones; put in objectives similar to Leves - you start at a GC NPC with 8~24 people (meaning as few as 8 and as many as 24) and you have to spend some FC points to begin your Operative Leve - kill the boss and you get FC points/loot and a new objective. It builds as you go and doesnt have a short/strict time limit.

Be a bit more creative - or just stick your head in the sand and continue being happy running down one-way hallways littered with trash to a gimmicky boss fight you've fought before.

Open World...

However: PS3 limitations.

open world by far.

Mmm. I guess they could do it like Voidwatch in 11, it was open world content and you only had to pop the bosses with voidstones. You didn't need to farm these, you'd get one every earth day. There was rarely competition for spots to pop these. So it would make everyone happy.

I'm all down for Open World. :) Instances only get boring after a while.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Deusteele

Going to cross post this from another thread since it's rather relevant.

First you have to remember. Forum's by their nature are echo-chambers that tend to promote like-minded support. So be wary of posts agreeing with your topic.

Second is that putting beef-gate monsters on mandatory leveling paths will do but nothing discourage new gamers from getting into the game due to artificially roadblocking progression. New players are forced to beg for assistance, to merely play the game, as the game grows beyond those area via expansions and general gameplay longevity. So many have answered, "put tomes/loot on these mobs". But this just encourages spawn camping, and all the sundry issues that come with that.

But now even if the developers were to place tough mobs in the overworld, and put them out of the way, so as not to discourage players from continuing their adventures in Eorzea. What would be the reasoning behind this? Why would a player go to these places intentionally, repeatedly, and meaningfully?

For Loot?
For Tomes?
For Crafting Material?

Why couldn't they merely place these monsters within an instance and again prevent spawn camping issues?

---

Instances are too organized and restrictive, in the instances due to specific battlefields, the bosses are highly scripted, the instanced content leaves no plance for improvisation, it's repetitive, every time you enter a dungeon you follow the same basics, enter> kill group A> Kill Group B>....Kill boss A> repeat> Claim a chest, an then you enter again to get more tomes, knowing you will have to do this 8 more times to buy your piece gear. You may like this system but i have a different point of view of this:
Wake up> get to your job> boredom time> go home, and repeat 20 times to get your money.

While farming in open world is more like hunting in real life, you go out there w/o knowing if you're going to get something or not, but it's exciting and even if you fail you'll come tomorrow because you want your prey.

And lets not forget we are here giving feedback, i already said the areas should be for high lvl players only, not included as leveling path, non related to story quest, and of course, because we are asking for an option and not for an overall change in the game, this will not be mandatory for anyone, the same way relics, coil and crafting aren't mandatory.

Edit:

Forgot something, remember this will be an option, you'll still have instanced content so i don't think it'll be overcamped, the playerbase will be split between those who like instanced content, and those who like open world, in my case i would be doing both, but i can tell you something for sure, if this game does not implement open world content i'll be gone sooner or later, and i won't be the only one, more ppl will leave because it's a fact that some ppl to not say most, is getting bored of the repetitiveness and the lack of options to progress of this game.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Gextiv

Open World...

However: PS3 limitations.

---

Amazing how so many people conveniently forget 1.0's limitations. I played 1.0 and I'm glad that they reduced the system impact for 2.0. Really, it's not JUST the PS3 that was taken into consideration, but ALSO the average PC specs people would be playing under. As for open world vs. instance, I say both. Open world for content that needs alot of people and instances for dungeons. This would allow for servers to best handle both.

Even though this is my first MMO I too would like to see a bit more open world content. What I'd like to see is a maze that changes once per week - make it a separate zone but accessible to everyone. You would need atleast 6 light parties to complete with various level bosses ROAMING around it(no tether). Have 6 spots that all parties must reach to access the final boss - but the locations should change every day.

Anyone could wander in but they would need to be in the location to get teleported to the final trial of the maze. The way to access the key locations would be varied, some would be jumping puzzles, some would be actual puzzles based on the lore, some would be plain and simple trash coridors some would require particular items to access etc... - and they should be mixed along with the rest - naturally the map would be obscured until you discover it all but as there would be dead ends and such you would still see obscured areas on it.

Once you reach your designated areas the parties will need to sync up to activate whatever mechanism would port them having some random defensive mechanism activate - and they need to take it down. Once all 6 are down the parties get transported to the final trial of the maze(which again would be a random boss generally - I think there's enough bosses in the world/dungeons - as it is that this could be pretty varied - I could see titan here as well - maybe this could be some allagan machinery that can project virtual simulations of beasts from the players minds - this being a training ground or something).

This would be a once per week challange so that everyone could take part in. Anyone entering the zone would be auto partied until a full light party is formed. Of course preformed would be without this limitaiton. I think light parties is what should be the main focus around this since there would be need to split up to discover all the locations, treasures and such. I don't think enrage timers would be needed here.

Just my idea on how to add something open worldy(separate zone because I can't see this being fit anywhere else... and I would expect this to be the size of current Coeathas Central Highlands atleast). And yes you could have more than 6 light parties but 6 is the minimal. The game should detect if there are more and scale difficulty up.