DEV attention: We request some change to open world!

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Originally Posted by Mikara

Is there actually anything wrong with having both poppable and roaming NMs? I don't think so. I think if a game has more in it that you can do, the better it will be. Just because a game has content in it, doesn't mean you have to do it. Even so, I want to move the topic past more than just NMs. What other open world stuff could we introduce?

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It should be no problem if SE do it like in 1.0 again.
- Roaming lowlevel NM who drop the best level 25-35 (untradeable) gear (around 10 minute respawn time). Change some lowlevel NM FATEs so it give with a chance (around 15%) a gear if the player got gold should be enough for this
- Roaming highlevel NM who drop (with a chance) mats to craft with them the actual NM gear (I can't remember the respawn time, but some NMs spawned only during specific weather or only during the night). SE could bring in 3 star recipes for these mats.
- Leve Highlevel NM who drop HL gear (of course not better than highlevel dungeon gear)

Yes yes to this thread

NMs? We have the FATE system which is superior as it doesn't require huge amounts of camping or competition...

But FATEs suck, and here's how to fix them.

1) (NM) FATEs should not show up on the map until at least one player has engaged with the mob.
2) (NM) FATEs should drop items/gear (low % based on rank in fate)

Basically, make more FATEs that work like Odin or Behemor.


Oh, and I like the option to enter dungeons in 'open mode' as well. (put some FATEs/Harvesting Points/Treasure Hunt locations/etc. in them to really make them interesting :cool: )

I'm a total noob to this game so take anything I say with a grain of salt but I'll add my two cents. Generally the only way to make the world of an MMO worth exploring is to inject an element of randomness into. Stuff like randomly spawning gatherables/collectables, NMs and long quest chains without quest markers.

This may not be the best thread to post this, but it's something open world that I really miss.

Previously, in 1.0 and 1.23, the Harvesting and Quarrying points (the ones that used the off-hand tool) were visible to anyone wandering around the open world. I miss them.

I didn't really want to level a gathering class, but, I wandered around the open world so much that I got gear for them and harvested/quarried every time I passed a point.

I think it would add some variety, and (admittedly minimal, but fun) open world content to bring back the visible harvesting and quarrying points.

Ideally they could implement open world content through Leves, Huntlogs, and return older content such as Skirmish.

Free Company Huntleves;

As a registered Free Company you can purchase special long-term Leves with Company Credits; these leves would be active Company wide their objectives viewable and executable by all members.

Example #1: "Having a Vile Time"
Cost: 1000 Company Credits
Duration: 48 hr.
Region: Thanalan

Objective: Fierce and territorial the Vilekin of Eorzea have set upon Thanalan - wrecking havoc upon it's inhabitants. Eliminate the threat and protect the realm before it is overrun!

0/50 Antling Fighter (lv.50) (Solo ~ 2+ Players) (Thanalan Region)
0/30 Ravenous Yarzon (lv.60) (4+ Players) (Eastern Thanalan, Central Thanalan, Southern Thanalan)
0/15 Mrymidon General (lv.70) (8+ Players) (Northern Thanalan)
0/1 Mrymidon Queen (lv.80) (8-16+ Players) (Central Thanalan, Black Brush Station/Cutter's Cry Entrance*)

Each of these objectives will be difficult - Yarzon will take a coordinated party of at least 4 or more players to down and require crowd control. This content is not limited by Duty Finder or party sizes - any member of the Free Company can join the fray at anytime.

The final boss Mrymidon Queen would take significant planning and coordination - her difficulty will scale with the number of Free Company members participating in the battle. She would take a highly organized group of at least 8 players to defeat her.

These objectives would be designed to cover large areas and would have a large window for completion. Gil, Seals, Tomes, Gear, and Exclusive crafting items would rewarded for defeating these enemies and a bonus awarded for completion. Each Huntleve would award a "Free Company" title.

Note: Only members of the Free Company may participate in the Free Company Huntleve. Just as normal leve enemies are locked from outside help - so are Huntleves locked in such a way that only members of the Free Company can engage these enemies.

By completing three different Huntleves as a Free Company across all three Regions players would gain access to City Raids:

http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...d-Design-Idea)




Please note: These are just my ideas. Ideas - and nothing more.

Some interesting ideas have been brought up, I actually really like the idea of Huntleves. It sounds like a great way to get more than 8 people of the FC involved. Can we think of anything else to suggest, or expand on any of the current suggestions?

Reading this reminded me of a post I made a few months ago about the maps, and as someone who really likes open-world dungeons, this is sort of relevant, haha.

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I think it's more an issue of verticality than map size. You can make your maps as large as you please, but at the end of the day if it's overall design is flat, then you're not properly utilizing all of the space you have to work with. Coerthas Central Highlands does this better than any other map in the game, although it could certainly be expanded upon. The caves connecting the two fissures at Witchdrop is a perfect example of this, and the caves on the east side of the map, as well, since you can only enter from one side (if memory serves), and then drop down from the other end. Then you've got the climb at Snowcloak, the chasm at Whitebrim, and the crater at the Boulder Downs. Rather than make use of what's at eye level, you can actually move up and down at certain points on the map to either get a better vantage, fight different monsters, or fulfill a quest (although that last one is standard fare, no offense, devs!).

Could you imagine jumping into the pit outside of Buscaroon's Druthers to enter the Gelmorra ruins, running through a maze of tunnels and the ruins of a forgotten city, until you come out at the North Shroud? Or falling through a sandpit in the Sagolii Desert, entering a vast cavern filled with high level monsters and environmental hazards, and journeying through that until you come out at Northern Thanalan? I'd love to see implementation of areas like this in the game because it would really add to the exploration.

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I realize it would mean drastically altering the maps we have now (as well as making brand new ones), but it would really open up the possibility of more open world content. Or, at the very least, increase the amount of exploration we can do. As has been said in other threads, the world we have right now lacks teeth. The strongest regular mobs we have are level 49 Beastmen and level 50 Water Sprites--not the most threatening enemies when you run across them, even at iLvl50.

So why not throw in these 'open world dungeons'? No mini-map display for them, just a place where the player can run around in, get lost, find themselves face to face with dangerous beasts, discover rare gathering nodes, and maybe even give even players in iLvl90 a bit of tension by throwing in the occasional Lvl100 monster? It would be pretty crazy to be walking around the Gelmorra Ruins when you see a collapsed building, enter it, and find a new type of Valefor chilling inside with a dozen souped-up Vodoriga's around it. Next thing you know you're running outside and either everyone's up and escaping from the area, or they're all fighting tooth and nail to take 'em down. Now that the monster's dead, you go back into the house and an cellar door has become interactable, taking you down into a cave below the house, and you just keep going...

Implementing open world dungeons that are massive, rewarding in both challenge and items, as well as just plain fun to go around with your friends; that's what I'd like to see added. Plus, it would add a bit of a 'Metroidvania" style to the world, having the dungeons connected at multiple points to multiple maps.

Treasure Hunt is the best place to start to expand with open world content, particularly pop-able NMs. We already have the base system down. Everytime you trigger a map, your entire party is locked in an open-world duty status (kind of like doing a leve) so no one can interfere. Great. Now let's see how I think SE can expand on this.

1) Have gatherer able to gather small pieces of a large rare map.
2) People can gather or buy these pieces (in 10s, 20s, 30s+) and combine them to get a rare map (think BCNM/KSNM in FFXI).
3) The map should encourage players to explore in various landmarks around Eorzea.
4) The rare maps should be challenging enough that would require 8 man to be on their toes for at least 7~10 minutes.
5) Drops crafting mats, housing items, gils, gears, mounts, minions, all you name it.
6) The reward, of course, will be proportionate so that the 8 man party that spent their time and resources isn't losing out against the gatherers who just sell their map pieces.

Now one of the community rep had already mentioned that treasure map system will be expanded in the future so hopefully things will be interesting enough that it isn't just a boring zerg grind like the current maps.

Hrmm, this idea seems interesting, what if when you get map pieces, it you can "use" them and they disappear from your inventory into your cartography case (new item which could essentially be just another item that is stored into your key items). When you open your cartography case, you are greeted with a grid which also shows all the map pieces you have stored from "using" them in your inventory. From there you could piece together the maps which certain pieces would allow you to increase the difficulty, type of mob (think of generic mob types, for instance wavekin simply means you will get a sahagin / fish enemy of some type), and maybe even conditions (something like, everyone is poisoned throughout the whole fight). After you complete the map, it will display like the other maps you have deciphered, showing you the location you have to travel to. And something similar from there out. However, if you opt to sell your map pieces, you would be unable to see what bonuses they would give to the treasure hunt as they would only show up after you have "used" them and put them into the cartography case. Thoughts?