Please let us *really* ride airships

Maybe they're waiting to add a long scenic air travel instance until the zones are redesigned. Cause with the graphics engine and level of detail in FF XIV, I'd imagine it would be the equivalent of an artist painting a canvas just to have his boss tell him to scrap your first work and paint the entire thing again but with more variations.

Why do something twice when the art department on the game can just wait for zone redesigns and then implement them into the airship travel experience. I think that might be why they are making them instant at the moment. But this is just merely a hypothetical guess.

I read this from a comment on one of the newer forums posts today, someone brought that explanation up. I don't really care to be honest, I'm happy riding everywhere with my Chocobo. So I'm content with what's coming. The lack of an airship sequence doesn't upset me since I know eventually it'll be on its way. I'm just grateful we're finally getting them and Chocobos.

Just have to say: who cares!!! This is the least of my worries, and just makes me want to die a little.

I really don't care either way.
The airship ride will be cool maybe the first two times, and then it will be like the FFXI airship where everyone just AFKed.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NGn6N4hVhBs

i want this, control our own ships, run into mobs and battles, nm's in the mix and all that jazz.

I, for one, think it's adorable how many people confuse "time sink" with "game mechanic" and ask for the implementation of archaic systems in a modern MMO. (I get it. Nostalgia is your bag.) However, since it's 2011 and this game is new, can we keep the instant travel and maybe add in a "Scenic Route" or "Guided Tour" later on? For the love of the Twelve? Sensibility?

There's no reason for the airship travel to last longer than a cutscene - in FFXI we all just parked outselves at the dock and left to take a leak, get a drink, ***, etc. and assumed we'd be at another dock when we got back. If we have a choice in the matter as to whether we're repeating history or optionally progressing... *** please.

TL;DR Version
Why is everyone always like, "MOAR TIME SINKS!!!!"? ***

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Originally Posted by Seif

WHAT ARE THEY THINKING!??!?!

Honestly they convince that they're working on these things behind the scenes for 12 months and what we get is a warp with an un-interactive cutscene?

what... the... hell...

Honestly I have no words. So much for airship battles and air-pirate attacks on deck, viewing the world from above and pretty much everything else.

Can you please at least start a charity account where we can donate money so that you could hire a new coder to work with both of the guys on your staff?!


Honestly why would we use this warping method instead of the anima debug-feature that's still in the game if it doesn't include any kind of gameplay?

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THIS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Originally Posted by Arlekiel

THIS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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THIS 2X for sure!

i really hope we can ride the airship especially since XIV has beatiful Graphics.

I want to see the clouds..

Hell, i wouldnt even care if it was an instance type of thing.

Ha what would be awesome if theyre was an Instanced dungeon on an airship that we have to kill waves of enemies, and the boss is waiting for use when we land......... if we survive.

This is a horrible idea? why? we already have instant travel to cities!!!

All this adds is a gil replacement for anima and a couple cutscenes >.> ... ok and maybe some actual FF flavor we desperately need. This is still a very impractical use of airships though :S

IF they do build on it in the future and this is just the basis of the system then won't be so bad... but why bother with it till then?! Need to add some story, fights, nm, instances, exploration, or something worth noting to make it more practical on release then just a gil form of instant travel >.<

Lets hope that renting chocobos isnt super costly.......please get it right the first time, if not get it perfect with a second quick tweak and not make us wait another month for that tweak!

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Originally Posted by Leonesaurus

Maybe they're waiting to add a long scenic air travel instance until the zones are redesigned.

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Probably this. If they have to redesign all the world, they can't create an istanced above-world with the old graphics and then change again to the new design. It's only a waste of time and resources. So i presume we'll see the 'vojage' along with areas redesign. In any case, waiting for that.. hoping with some random battles in the sky too or particular events.

FFXIV airship seems kinda small for actual content. FFXI airships were quite big and you could move around in them. They would have to change the airship itself to a larger model. These airships seem more like cars while the imperials have REAL airships.

lorewise these are Eorzea's first airships, being produced from stolen Garlean blueprint's. I think why they look drastically different is the resources available to the builder's.

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Originally Posted by Xmbei

lorewise these are Eorzea's first airships, being produced from stolen Garlean blueprint's. I think why they look drastically different is the resources available to the builder's.

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Are you sure? I thought story would have it that Eorzea is just getting its first magitech airships through stolen imperial kit.

My understanding was that the city states have long had airship tech, they've just been decades behind Garlea - especially in terms of military application. Early First World War aviation's 'drop rocks out of the biplanes' beside late Second World War flying fortresses.

The FF12 airships were pretty sweet... you could decide whether to just sleep in a cabin the whole way, or choose to roam about and I think buy some things that you couldn't get elsewhere... if they had some interesting things going on such as shops, great scenery and music, maybe a little minigame or two, then I sure wouldn't mind if they took 5-10 mins or so to travel to somewhere.

Personally, I was excited to hear that airship travel wouldn't take the tedious boring path that XI took. If I have business in another city, I want to do my business, not call up someone on a linkpearl saying "Yeah, I'm stuck in traffic. I know, I'm holding up everyone. Be there once the airship lands." The scenery would be nice the first few times, but it will get old quick.

we already have fast travel.. airships should not be another form of FAST travel.. ffs why not just make it so we can tele to any point on the map.. cause sheesh walking is a WASTE OF TIME!

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Originally Posted by Firon

i like this way standing there doing nothing for 7 mins is a waste of time

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You must have a very busy day indeed that 7 minutes out of 1440 a day is considered a lot~

Or i guess you are just crap at organising, after all you are just standing there.
Could be looking at scenery, crafting, watching tv, listening to music, being afk and grabbing a bite, a drink, toilet break, shower instead~

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Originally Posted by Aeyis

You must have a very busy day indeed that 7 minutes out of 1440 a day is considered a lot~

Or i guess you are just crap at organising, after all you are just standing there.
Could be looking at scenery, crafting, watching tv, listening to music, being afk and grabbing a bite, a drink, toilet break, shower instead~

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I only showered while on Airship in FFXI, other than that I would never shower, speaking of which, I haven't showered since the launch of FFXIV.

This airship "ride" reminds me too much of EQ2 zoning. EQ2 sucked, lmao.

I'm glad they are going to be instant, the less time I spend not playing the game because of travel the better IMO.

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Originally Posted by Krausus

I'm glad they are going to be instant, the less time I spend not playing the game because of travel the better IMO.

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This 100% and this only

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Originally Posted by Krausus

I'm glad they are going to be instant, the less time I spend not playing the game because of travel the better IMO.

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That is ridiculous. The point of an MMO is to have a massive open world to explore. Travel is a massive part of that. Further more instant travel eliminates the possibility of mid travel events such as the pirate attacks in XI. Considering the Notable power of the imperial air armada it makes little to no sense to not allow for active air travel with the possibility of an imperial encounter.

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Originally Posted by Krausus

I'm glad they are going to be instant, the less time I spend not playing the game because of travel the better IMO.

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Getting there is part of the experience, Kupo.

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Originally Posted by Kiote

That is ridiculous. The point of an MMO is to have a massive open world to explore. Travel is a massive part of that. Further more instant travel eliminates the possibility of mid travel events such as the pirate attacks in XI. Considering the Notable power of the imperial air armada it makes little to no sense to not allow for active air travel with the possibility of an imperial encounter.

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it makes little to no sense that SE couldn't just add in separate events for attacks, as well as stating riding on a ship over the world is equatable to exploring it.

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Originally Posted by Kiote

That is ridiculous. The point of an MMO is to have a massive open world to explore.

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Well, when they put some freakin' content out there - we'll go explore and appreciate the surroundings. What's ridiculous is to spend hours just walking around looking at pretty copypasta textures for f**k-all progress in an MMORPG. Those last three letters matter just as much as the first.

Copy/Paste from my tranlsation thread on todays JP rep response about airship travel.

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Just like the NA side some people didn't get YoshiP's message in the past about how the airships going to work now and later on so the Reps clarified it for us, so here goes:

Original thread link: http://goo.gl/3tdHZ

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Originally Posted by Foxclon

こんにちは。
Hello,

1.19で実装される飛空艇については 第17回プロデュサーレター でもお伝えしていますが、出発と着陸時にはカットシーンの演出がありますが、移動は一瞬になり飛空艇内を動きまわるといったことはできません。
The airship releasing in 1.19, as stated in 17th producer letter, there will be departing/landing cut scenes but the travel will be instantly where you wont be able to move around the airship.

ただし、将来的には飛空艇の中も動きまわれるようにする計画があります。
そしてその際には、飛空艇内で事件が起こったり、クエストが発生したりなど、飛空艇内での遊びも一緒に提供していきます。
However, there are plans for future to be able to move around inside the airship.
And when that happens, will offer contents you may play such as some kind of problem occurring on the airship, or quest happening.

まずはひとつの移動手段として飛空艇をご利用ください！
For now please think of it and utilize the airship as additional method for travel!

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Originally Posted by Reinheart

Copy/Paste from my tranlsation thread on todays JP rep response about airship travel.

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Just like the NA side some people didn't get YoshiP's message in the past about how the airships going to work now and later on so the Reps clarified it for us, so here goes:

Original thread link: http://goo.gl/3tdHZ

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Thanks Reinheart, this issue that really isn't an issue at all will still be argued over til they are blue in the face. Sadly, we live in a TL;DR generation and the only way to get this message to people would be to start a new thread with this above post. Right when this page fills up and there is a new one, it will be lost. lol

Really, Yoshida should have mentioned that they will be added later again in his latest letter. So, it's half his fault as well.

Well of course they are letting us walk inside the airship. This was possible in FFXI 10 years ago, so they can't give us less in 2011-2012. Now my issue with it is that 10 years later i kinda expected something more.

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Originally Posted by Kirith

Well of course they are letting us walk inside the airship. This was possible in FFXI 10 years ago, so they can't give us less in 2011-2012. Now my issue with it is that 10 years later i kinda expected something more.

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Same here but can't blame the new team for it, they are trying to fix as much on what the old team messed up, hard to tell the new guys to suddenly take over and read the old teams codes and just figure out and fix instantly, for programming it takes lots of planning and coding, since its MMO it will take longer since they have to make sure they can use the new code and make changes to it in the future to change/add new stuff onto it later on.

As a programmer with game development experience i really can't bring myself to believe this is the best they could achieve having their own in-house renderer and development suite. Judging from the state of the game at release i can't see any sign of something more advanced than what we saw in FFXI being planned for it, either. Also, the former team wasn't completely replaced, only key figures were. The ones mostly responsible for core design choices. It's their engine and their programmers after all.
Sadly the only logical explanation i can see for this apparent lack of modernity in the game is an unsatisfying knowledge of mmorpg development and insufficient research by the company's managerial positions. FFXIV was announced and released too fast, i had trust in Tanaka on long term (unlike the current team), but in any case you can't have old men without a varied mmorpg development experience start making an AAA game in this ultra-competitive field, no matter how much wow they play. 10 years ago it was still not so strange, but right now the consequences of doing that are in front of everyone's eyes.

While the airships in 1.19 will feature cutscene-only, quick transport, there are future plans for being able to move around aboard the airship and enjoy the scenery while flying to your destinations. We are also planning on adding airship-related content, such as quests and other things to do.

For now, please enjoy airships as a method of transportation and look forward to what’s coming! ^_^

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Originally Posted by Rukkirii

While the airships in 1.19 will feature cutscene-only, quick transport, there are future plans for being able to move around aboard the airship and enjoy the scenery while flying to your destinations. We are also planning on adding airship-related content, such as quests and other things to do.

For now, please enjoy airships as a method of transportation and look forward to what’s coming! ^_^

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And this is why we love Rukkirii

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Originally Posted by Rukkirii

While the airships in 1.19 will feature cutscene-only, quick transport, there are future plans for being able to move around aboard the airship and enjoy the scenery while flying to your destinations. We are also planning on adding airship-related content, such as quests and other things to do.

For now, please enjoy airships as a method of transportation and look forward to what’s coming! ^_^

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Thank you Rukkirii, your reiterating that, at this point, is really reassuring.

boooooooo, they need to still keep the fast travel version as well, keep the ride for those who want it. i'd use it but only when i want to fish on it, or when i want to kill something on it. that is only reason we should ever be forced to sit on a boat for 10mins instead of just moving onto what we were doing.

Thank you for the additional confirmation, Rukkirii. *pets once again Opo-opo's fur* :D

Thanks to Reinheart as well for his translations. :)

I'll look forward to these new future contents planned for airships!

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boooooooo, they need to still keep the fast travel version as well

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That's what anima is for. Not all transportation needs to be instant.

I must respectfully disagree with this post. I am so greatful that these airships are instance travel. Waiting 15 minutes for an airship to arrive, then take-off, the waiting for the ride itself is EXCRUCIATING. Taking a ride is neat the first time. The 1,000th time? Not so fun. Fact is, we need a fast way to get between cities. Please, if you're listening moderaters, pass on that this is a great idea and it should stay this way, at least between city states.

If you want to make everyone happy, make a longer airship ride available when you release the first expansion. For example, take the airship ride from Jeuno to Kazham from FFXI. Something like this would be the perfect opportunity to create a longer ride, which you can view the land passing underneath. Furthermore, since this airship is taking you to a more dangerous, hostile area this would be a great instance to implement Airship Pirate attacks. If you made defeating these pirates have a cool reward, then all the people upset that there is no airship ride can just ride this ship all day and kill pirates and be satisfied.

I agree that it was lots of fun taking the ferry from Selbina to Mhaura and you would have the Sea Horror spawn sometimes and very rarely a group of Skeleton Pirates would spawn and thier leader would drop a super good WHM weapon (if my memory serves me correctly). And you could fish at high levels and get great drops. Why not implement stuff like this in FFXIV on the ferry from Limsa Lominsa to Ul'dah?

But as for the airship ride between City States? No thanks! Let us just have a way to travel between them in the shortest time possible. Please! Have the ferry leave every minute. It's such a pain at the moment to head to Gridania to check if there are any Guildleves that reward Conjurer or Lancer marks just to find out there isn't and the whole trip was a waste.

I'm dissapointed so many people are worked up over such an insignificant part of the game. Now, Party Search functions and Invite Fags, that's a serious issue....

Keep up the great work developers at Square Enix!

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Originally Posted by Eva

I must respectfully disagree with this post. I am so greatful that these airships are instance travel.

Keep up the great work developers at Square Enix!

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They were meant to have a longer travel period from the start but due to development cost/time they could only implement them as instant. What you are asking for of the airship travel is already in the game, its called teleport to the City-state Aetherial Plaza.

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Originally Posted by Eva

I must respectfully disagree with this post. I am so greatful that these airships are instance travel. Waiting 15 minutes for an airship to arrive, then take-off, the waiting for the ride itself is EXCRUCIATING. Taking a ride is neat the first time. The 1,000th time? Not so fun. Fact is, we need a fast way to get between cities. Please, if you're listening moderaters, pass on that this is a great idea and it should stay this way, at least between city states.

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I stopped reading after the 1st paragraph.. too much whining and bitching.

You want fast travel between cities when they make airship an actual ride with content?

USE YOUR ANIMAS AND QUIT YOUR CRYING!

People are so spoiled with instant travelling that they don't want to compromise for anything else after. If you don't have time to take the ship or go there on chocoback then use your animas. When you have more time, then go on your chocobo or take the airship ride, w/e suits you best ans save your animas when you need to fast travel... Fast travelling has it's advantage but not everything needs to be instant.