An Eorzea that is more 'alive' and dynamic. - A suggestion for the future of Eorzea

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Originally Posted by Munba

Another little idea,
i would love to see unique constellations in the sky during the night.

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And also bump the resolution of the sky texture and for the love of the Twelve, make the sky shift seamlessly, not jumping pixel per pixel as it does now.

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Originally Posted by Soukyuu

And also bump the resolution of the sky texture and for the love of the Twelve, make the sky shift seamlessly, not jumping pixel per pixel as it does now.

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Huh? It doesn't.

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Originally Posted by Soukyuu

And also bump the resolution of the sky texture and for the love of the Twelve, make the sky shift seamlessly, not jumping pixel per pixel as it does now.

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Absolutely agree.

ok this is a WoW machinina (funny btw) to just demonstrate how much better chat animation add life ina game. though not set in game all the chat animation done by the character are the same in game. And is based sorta in what we type. :)

Also in Aion they have words that trigger emotes. like hehe or lol will do
/laugh these add life to the or characters and makes it so we are not looking just at a chat box. I know ppl would be against this but adding an Option to have a ff style classy chat bubble will also help. One pet peeve of mine in ffxi is i miss epic cs or something funny on the screen because I'm stuck reading a chat box. We can have it so its players choice to have the chat bubble (for clutter) but I would again much rather be "looking at the player" i'm chatting with not a box.

the WoW vid showcasing chat animations
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hyaUtbRuswo

again vid is only to show how chat animations add more life and WoW is 1 of few games to use them.

Also there are some NPCS ) like Hąrhanbolo, who constatnly talk about not having a time, (she says she set sails soon) but in fact eteernaly stays in single place. MAke them go and set sail, ( and be back in few hours) yes it might be annoying for people wanting to finish leve right NOW, but hell with them, if npc is available only at certain time each ingame day its OK

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Originally Posted by Lamhirh

Also there are some NPCS ) like Hąrhanbolo, who constatnly talk about not having a time, (she says she set sails soon) but in fact eteernaly stays in single place. MAke them go and set sail, ( and be back in few hours) yes it might be annoying for people wanting to finish leve right NOW, but hell with them, if npc is available only at certain time each ingame day its OK

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not to be mean but that would be a useless time sink : / some may never get to get that leve done because they are log on only when she is gone. But.... I would agree some npc should roam.

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Originally Posted by Munba

Another little idea,
i would love to see unique constellations in the sky during the night. Maybe some could be represent the Twelve, others mithycal FF creatures (leviathan, bahamuth, etc.). And maybe every zone could have some differences (for example in Coerthas we could see 'Halone' (guardian of Ishgard) and in La Noscea 'Llymlaen' (guardian of Limsa Lominsa) and so on). It would add atmosphere during the night time. Some could give you some benefits (example if you are under your -choosen in the chara creation- Guardian constellation in that moment). Maybe also adding constellations maps in game, depending on where you are.

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They should make a star constellations of me... No0my!

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Originally Posted by Soukyuu

And also bump the resolution of the sky texture and for the love of the Twelve, make the sky shift seamlessly, not jumping pixel per pixel as it does now.

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Originally Posted by Munba

Absolutely agree.

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They fixed it a while ago, you can look back at the night sky now. :o

And everyone, your suggestions are really interesting and amazing (enough to keep the devs busy for years to come, haha)!

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Originally Posted by Nakiamiie

They fixed it a while ago, you can look back at the night sky now. :o

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Really? :0 Going to check it!

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Originally Posted by Soukyuu

And also bump the resolution of the sky texture and for the love of the Twelve, make the sky shift seamlessly, not jumping pixel per pixel as it does now.

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LOL, you haven't looked up lately have you?

I agree with /say and /shout animations, non-instanced character housing, functional furnishings, and more interactive animations (climb, swim, clamber, hop).

I'm happy ppl think chat animations are a good idea. :) I wish there was a dev tag and maybe get it looked into or something. Or a dev can read it and see about it getting added some time. I mean the npc have chat animations from what I seen, could just use those.

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Originally Posted by Kilta_Firelotus

I'm happy ppl think chat animations are a good idea. :) I wish there was a dev tag and maybe get it looked into or something. Or a dev can read it and see about it getting added some time. I mean the npc have chat animations from what I seen, could just use those.

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There should also be NPC actions for getting our attention instead of ! bubbles too: like hollering /emotes. While we're on the subject.

But, anyways, it would be cool if they implemented a player-housing system where settlements could be formed amidst the huge zones we have at our disposal, or for future zones that SE adds to the game. You know, as opposed to just having them in instances.

That would seem quite dumb for this game to be honest. They'd have to make them really subtle for it to be classy. It works in a cartoonish game, since there's no worry about the animations going "over-the-top"; that's kinda the point.

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Originally Posted by Betelgeuzah

That would seem quite dumb for this game to be honest. They'd have to make them really subtle for it to be classy. It works in a cartoonish game, since there's no worry about the animations going "over-the-top"; that's kinda the point.

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What would be kind of dumb? Conversational emotes? I think you can get the point across without the gestures being oafish or annoying.

But as an advocate for all things tasteful, I must caution that the animations simply must be aesthetically pleasing and also artistically consistent for them to be enjoyable. In a game with floating exclamation bubbles, aggro-indicators, and hideous-looking spell effects (basically all of which look unnatural and, let's face it, downright Korean), I think uglifying conversational emotes would just put it over the edge.

Add life to the static creatures of Eorzea! Create mobs that act like living breathing animals. Take the Nannygoat for example..The only thing it does is walk stop and stare. Zombie Nanny! Make it eat grass/lay down/drink/scratch itself on a tree/play with its babies. If you could add more animations and motions for our wild creatures and monsters it would really make our Eorzea feel more lively. Also I love the idea of roaming aggresive mobs like the creepy wolves. I love that constant threat of danger that makes me want to scan the horizon to make sure no killer is stalking me through the dead of night.

Yoshi P if you can make a world where I could sit down and just be entertained by the wildlife and the landscape around me, that would just be awesome :) Don't get me wrong I don't want everything creature doing over the top animations or actions. I just want a little something more than walking and staring :(

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Originally Posted by Zahak

Add life to the static creatures of Eorzea! Create mobs that act like living breathing animals. Take the Nannygoat for example..The only thing it does is walk stop and stare. Zombie Nanny! Make it eat grass/lay down/drink/scratch itself on a tree/play with its babies. If you could add more animations and motions for our wild creatures and monsters it would really make our Eorzea feel more lively. Also I love the idea of roaming aggresive mobs like the creepy wolves. I love that constant threat of danger that makes me want to scan the horizon to make sure no killer is stalking me through the dead of night.

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Pro tip: scan for aggro-indicators. Just... don't look directly at them.

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Originally Posted by Betelgeuzah

That would seem quite dumb for this game to be honest. They'd have to make them really subtle for it to be classy. It works in a cartoonish game, since there's no worry about the animations going "over-the-top"; that's kinda the point.

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You know the npc have chat animation right.... I meant those..... nothing cartoony or over the top just siomething to make our character appear more lively. I find it dumb that in ffxo and ffxiv that our characters just stand silently.... not movinbg when we players chat. It feels like I'm just in sa chat room vs chatting on a game.

I would like to see a merchandise day, much more NPC walking in uldah, lower prices on NPCs, rare items in NPCs, and people searching and selling their items too. NPCs "talking", doing emigre, making uldah alive. One time a week perhaps =)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iesY1...el_video_title

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Originally Posted by Kilta_Firelotus

You know the npc have chat animation right.... I meant those..... nothing cartoony or over the top just siomething to make our character appear more lively. I find it dumb that in ffxo and ffxiv that our characters just stand silently.... not movinbg when we players chat. It feels like I'm just in sa chat room vs chatting on a game.

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You stand silently in real life while talking with someone too, especially if you're just listening to them and not responding yet.

This thread is full of awesomeness.

My 2 cents (crazy stuff):

Warfront: A special open world zone, maybe somewhere around Ala Mhigo, where large scale battles between players and Garleans would occur on a regular basis. Or even, the same idea applied to Ala Mhigo itself making it a contested area.
Winning the battle would free the city until the next attack (kind of like besieged).

Airship battles: Eorzean airships assaulted by Garleans airships. When the Garlean airship is taken down it crashes on the ground and players can enter the wreckage to kill crew survivors and get some Garlean loot / technology. This could even go as far as be part of a large scale quest to study / acquire Garlean technology.

Enemy territory: Zones in Garlemald (Expansion?) where players would have to assault camps and then defend them from retaliations to get benefits from them (aeterythe, supplies, guildleves...). One step further, assault Garlean cities directly. Garleans would roam the zones to kill players (like behests where players are the mobs :p)

Invasion from below (raid): A huge, huge underground dungeon containing some kind of portal that would pour in monsters. Players would have to enter the dungeon, kill the monsters and seal the portal in a limited time, or else they would invade the nearby open world areas.

Traps & secret doors: Place all kind of traps and secret doors in dungeons where it makes sense for them to be and make abilities available to thief-like classes to disarm / discover them. They would be dynamic and their location would change everytime. Secret doors could open special, dynamic, instanced dungeon parts.

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Originally Posted by Visch

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iesY1...el_video_title

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I hope more scenic things are added to XIV eventually. Would also be nice to add in nice scenery to the areas already in the game.

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Originally Posted by Sha

This thread is full of awesomeness.

My 2 cents (crazy stuff):

Warfront: A special open world zone, maybe somewhere around Ala Mhigo, where large scale battles between players and Garleans would occur on a regular basis. Or even, the same idea applied to Ala Mhigo itself making it a contested area.
Winning the battle would free the city until the next attack (kind of like besieged).

Airship battles: Eorzean airships assaulted by Garleans airships. When the Garlean airship is taken down it crashes on the ground and players can enter the wreckage to kill crew survivors and get some Garlean loot / technology. This could even go as far as be part of a large scale quest to study / acquire Garlean technology.

Enemy territory: Zones in Garlemald (Expansion?) where players would have to assault camps and then defend them from retaliations to get benefits from them (aeterythe, supplies, guildleves...). One step further, assault Garlean cities directly. Garleans would roam the zones to kill players (like behests where players are the mobs :p)

Invasion from below (raid): A huge, huge underground dungeon containing some kind of portal that would pour in monsters. Players would have to enter the dungeon, kill the monsters and seal the portal in a limited time, or else they would invade the nearby open world areas.

Traps & secret doors: Place all kind of traps and secret doors in dungeons where it makes sense for them to be and make abilities available to thief-like classes to disarm / discover them. They would be dynamic and their location would change everytime. Secret doors could open special, dynamic, instanced dungeon parts.

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Great ideas as well. :D

About the last paragraph, it would be nice to have also riddles to solve in dungeons.

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Originally Posted by Elexia

You stand silently in real life while talking with someone too, especially if you're just listening to them and not responding yet.

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buyt when we talk we are animated... we don't just stand still. that is the point i'm making. i'm not talking over animation either. I hope you 2 are not against it cuz of WoW has it..., that is a lame reason not to add something.

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Originally Posted by Visch

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iesY1...el_video_title

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As nice as that video is, you can't deny that much of it is just scenery, things going on in the background which players can neither interact with nor change. See but not touch.

I think SE should add in artistic touches and embellish their world, but only do so in a way that gives life to the game's immediate surroundings, not a moving picture in the background.

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Originally Posted by gifthorse

As nice as that video is, you can't deny that much of it is just scenery, things going on in the background which players can neither interact with nor change. See but not touch.

I think SE should add in artistic touches and embellish their world, but only do so in a way that gives life to the game's immediate surroundings, not a moving picture in the background.

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This be true, however FFXIV haave alot of "See but not touch." things aswell, atleast 8 -10 zone ares
wich you arnt allowed to enter. Small towns / villages around in coerthas with more or less 0 purpose as of yet.
There's still much more potential thou beyond what we just can see & interact with.

in the words of cid highwind, change the battle system and QUIT DRINKING YOUR G*DDAMN TEA!

I didn't play FFXI, so I'm basing my suggestions on my experiences with FFXIV so far. Apologies if some of these items have been discussed to death.

Here are some suggestions I might make to create a more 'alive' and dynamic Eorzea:

Make better use of NPCs:

• Allow wandering NPCs who can provide you with sidequests (even in dungeon areas)
• Have NPCs use emotes when you speak with them (even if just when the inital conversation begins)
• Allow NPCs to wander throughout cities (this has been mentioned and it's a great idea!)
• Allow us to 'overhear' NPC conversations that might reveal secret areas or sidequests we could perform

Encourage us to go to hamlets:

• Allow specialized crafting facilities in hamlets (most have one crafting-related building anyway)
• Allow crafting sidequests to be started and/or completed here

Implement chocobos in a variety of ways:

• Have them wander regions, even if you can't ride them (yet!)
• Show them pulling carts/wagons that may have NPCs (again, for sidequests)
• Have chocobos initiate a quest where we have to protect them from a mob (and allow the chocobo to have an HP bar so they can actually die and there is a potential risk to this type of mini-quest)
• Implement sidequests or leves that may involve us fighting a herd of upset chocobos (that is: chocobos don't always have to be friendly, right?)

Provide us with meaningful travel options:

• I don't really need to say that we should be able to ride chocobos, do I? ;)
• Airships! Make airship travel last 10-15 minutes and give us sidequests to complete while traveling
• Boats: give us sidequests to complete while traveling, or encourage us to take boats via a sidequest that requires us to find an NPC on-board the boat already

Give us reason to visit specific cities:

• Implement city-specific events that encourage players to visit in addition to "world" events that we've had in the past (i.e. Gridania could have a festival, Ul'dah could have a battle competition in the Gladiator Guild, etc.)
• Sidequests in cities only (i.e. allow us to find items on the ground which can then be returned to the NPC)
• Special status enhancements: "blessings" that can be bestowed to a player by visiting their guild prior to battle which would enhance a particular stat or skill

These are small suggestions that I think could be potentially implemented without requiring major overhauls to the foundation of the game, but would still enhance the liveliness of the world!

Thanks for taking our feedback into account! I know the dev team is going to do a great job! :D

1) battle system habve nothing to do with this topic
2) i dont want battle system changed, just fixed and balanced
3) i love tea, i deeply hope SE enjoys theirs.

One thing I think that would make the world more alive is to add villages, or farm steeds or camps or whatever in various areas of the world and then have a few NPC’s that gives out quests.

This gives people a reason to explore the different lands, if you find this little quest hub or the NPC that is walking around “looking for something” or anything like that.

Giving us reasons to explore the huge land will also make it feel like there is a point to it.

Like I would like to know what all the people in Eozia eat.. I never see farms or any sort of anything that should dot the lands and give the feeling that it’s alive.

I'd just like to know when they plan on making serious and significant changes to the world. I hear "this spring", so I guess that gives them about one more "big" patch, possibly two, to transform this game completely. So far I'm seeing things being scaled up and down and some numbers being messed with.

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Originally Posted by Sha

This thread is full of awesomeness.

My 2 cents (crazy stuff):

[...]

Traps & secret doors: Place all kind of traps and secret doors in dungeons where it makes sense for them to be and make abilities available to thief-like classes to disarm / discover them. They would be dynamic and their location would change everytime. Secret doors could open special, dynamic, instanced dungeon parts.

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I really like that idea of dynamic traps and secret doors! It would require players to cross-class equip thief-like abilities to detect them or have at least one thief in the party! Amazing idea!!!

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Originally Posted by Munba

... it would be nice to have also riddles to solve in dungeons.

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Oh yeah! That way, some secret doors could be opened without thief-like skills, but just common sense or very deep lore about Eorzea.

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Originally Posted by 7hurricane

I didn't play FFXI, so I'm basing my suggestions on my experiences with FFXIV so far. Apologies if some of these items have been discussed to death.

Here are some suggestions I might make to create a more 'alive' and dynamic Eorzea:

Make better use of NPCs:

• Allow wandering NPCs who can provide you with sidequests (even in dungeon areas)
• Have NPCs use emotes when you speak with them (even if just when the inital conversation begins)
• Allow NPCs to wander throughout cities (this has been mentioned and it's a great idea!)
• Allow us to 'overhear' NPC conversations that might reveal secret areas or sidequests we could perform

Encourage us to go to hamlets:

• Allow specialized crafting facilities in hamlets (most have one crafting-related building anyway)
• Allow crafting sidequests to be started and/or completed here

Implement chocobos in a variety of ways:

• Have them wander regions, even if you can't ride them (yet!)
• Show them pulling carts/wagons that may have NPCs (again, for sidequests)
• Have chocobos initiate a quest where we have to protect them from a mob (and allow the chocobo to have an HP bar so they can actually die and there is a potential risk to this type of mini-quest)
• Implement sidequests or leves that may involve us fighting a herd of upset chocobos (that is: chocobos don't always have to be friendly, right?)

Provide us with meaningful travel options:

• I don't really need to say that we should be able to ride chocobos, do I? ;)
• Airships! Make airship travel last 10-15 minutes and give us sidequests to complete while traveling
• Boats: give us sidequests to complete while traveling, or encourage us to take boats via a sidequest that requires us to find an NPC on-board the boat already

Give us reason to visit specific cities:

• Implement city-specific events that encourage players to visit in addition to "world" events that we've had in the past (i.e. Gridania could have a festival, Ul'dah could have a battle competition in the Gladiator Guild, etc.)
• Sidequests in cities only (i.e. allow us to find items on the ground which can then be returned to the NPC)
• Special status enhancements: "blessings" that can be bestowed to a player by visiting their guild prior to battle which would enhance a particular stat or skill

These are small suggestions that I think could be potentially implemented without requiring major overhauls to the foundation of the game, but would still enhance the liveliness of the world!

Thanks for taking our feedback into account! I know the dev team is going to do a great job! :D

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Your post is gold, very good ideas in it. :o

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Originally Posted by Javilen

One thing I think that would make the world more alive is to add villages, or farm steeds or camps or whatever in various areas of the world and then have a few NPC’s that gives out quests.

This gives people a reason to explore the different lands, if you find this little quest hub or the NPC that is walking around “looking for something” or anything like that.

Giving us reasons to explore the huge land will also make it feel like there is a point to it.

Like I would like to know what all the people in Eozia eat.. I never see farms or any sort of anything that should dot the lands and give the feeling that it’s alive.

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I agree with the farms, haha. I haven't seen any either, it would be great to add some farms near the hamlets (and have the farmers hide in the hamlets when aggressive monsters come too close, haha).

Overall:
- Seasons:
Fall: Falling leaves, bare plants etc.
Winter: Snow that covers the ground and bare trees, and trails of steps in the snow. Animals that didn't survive the winter.
Spring: everything that blossoms, mobs defending their cubs.
Summer: Real sunshine afecting shadows and being really bright (like just before you come out of a tunnel transition effect)
Same music but reworked a bit to match the seaons' feel.

- Wandering animals that are curious, but actually become afraid and run away when close to a fight.

- Do something interesting with the random caves.

Gridania:
- Holes in the trees to secret underground tunneling "mole" race.
- Villages / pathways in the trees

Really enjoying this post!

What I think the world needs to bring it alive is more towns settlements, good and bad. Like you could run to a town populated by thieves or criminals, or towns that need help! It just feels a little lonely running around the wilderness, it's needs action! Oh and an awsome waterfall!!!!!!

Personally, from some of the concept art for Gridania, I thought it would have been more forest like and less maze like, lol. Like I imagined us walking through fairly dense trees with narrow paths as guides for our destinations, but still being able to run through the trees instead of just look at them from afar. In Ul'dah and Limsa you don't really feel confined. It feels more open world and for me, Gridania, my starting city, fails to give me the same feeling as those two starting areas. Even Coerthas, probably my favorite region in the game, has a closer idea to what I though Gridania would be. There are still beautiful nooks and crannies in Gridania but it's not as elaborate as I was hoping it to be. Maybe if they do introduce seasons to the game Gridania could retain some glory in that aspect and not it's tediousness. =)

To make the world feel more alive, I would implement aggressive monsters attacking nonagressive monsters, like an ecosystem similar to FFXIII's plains, but on a grander scale than just 1-3 occurances. To counteract the lost nonagressive mobs you can make "dens" or "packs" that link when attacked, hunt (larger/stronger or weaker non-agressive mobs), and roam (3-5 agressive mobs, like wolfs do). Look to the natural behavior of come real life animals to creat the behavior. There was talk about this during development of FFXIV, I think it should be brought back. Also, one could add more non-agressive mobs. It would also create the element of "wrong-place at the wrong time" and peril to Eorzea. If you are at the same rank as these mobs level, and you get attacked by the pack you will probably die if you cannot run away. It creates a situation where you need to be aware of your surrondings. Also, the monsters in each region need to be diversified, instead of just having dodo's, sheep, squirrels, and 1-2 area specific monsters in every region. I remember FFXI had different mobs in every starting region.

Also, add nocturnal monsters, ghosts, etc. Nightime in FFXI was dangerous in some places.

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Originally Posted by Javilen

One thing I think that would make the world more alive is to add villages, or farm steeds or camps or whatever in various areas of the world and then have a few NPC’s that gives out quests.

This gives people a reason to explore the different lands, if you find this little quest hub or the NPC that is walking around “looking for something” or anything like that.

Giving us reasons to explore the huge land will also make it feel like there is a point to it.

Like I would like to know what all the people in Eozia eat.. I never see farms or any sort of anything that should dot the lands and give the feeling that it’s alive.

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Or... a band of NPCs will gradually settle in an area, build a village, and then beastmen will come and try to destroy the village, and if you aren't around to stop them, then the village will be destroyed along with its inhabitants.

Or... a group of robbers and bandits will set up little camps and you can either let them flourish or destroy them before they become more powerful.

I thought seasons were going to really matter in this game, like it would be winter and there would be snow, its fall so the leaves look different. That is not so in this game. They had led me to believe this in an article quite a few months back before the release.

Also this spring means until what june 20th, (my birthday is june 12th and i hate people saying its in summer all the time)

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Originally Posted by Gasper

To make the world feel more alive, I would implement aggressive monsters attacking nonagressive monsters, like an ecosystem similar to FFXIII's plains, but on a grander scale than just 1-3 occurances. To counteract the lost nonagressive mobs you can make "dens" or "packs" that link when attacked, hunt (larger/stronger or weaker non-agressive mobs), and roam (3-5 agressive mobs, like wolfs do). Look to the natural behavior of come real life animals to creat the behavior. There was talk about this during development of FFXIV, I think it should be brought back. Also, one could add more non-agressive mobs. It would also create the element of "wrong-place at the wrong time" and peril to Eorzea. If you are at the same rank as these mobs level, and you get attacked by the pack you will probably die if you cannot run away. It creates a situation where you need to be aware of your surrondings. Also, the monsters in each region need to be diversified, instead of just having dodo's, sheep, squirrels, and 1-2 area specific monsters in every region. I remember FFXI had different mobs in every starting region.

Also, add nocturnal monsters, ghosts, etc. Nightime in FFXI was dangerous in some places.

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They can also use the smaller, scaled mobs, to represent the mob's young.

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Originally Posted by Rukkirii

Hey guys! We spoke to Producer Yoshida and he likes your ideas about bringing more life to Eorzea and will be looking into them further. Currently the development staff is preoccupied with fixing systems with high priority so these ideas will take a little longer to be implemented but please look forward to it.

What other ideas do you have that would make Eorzea feel more alive? ^_^

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My list of ideas to make Eorzea feel more alive (in any given order):

- addition of story driven dialogue from ALL NPCs in all cities, from small one liners to entire tales (text is just fine)

- addition of 1000+ quests for absolutely everything, each one telling a little more of the story and lore

- addition of 100+ roaming Notorious Monsters small and large, scattered all over Eorzea that all drop ra/ex equipment

- addition of more and diverse (climate/terrain) dungeons, with treasure chests, and quests associated with exploring and looting these chests

- addition of several smaller towns, with unique story lines, quests and items associated with it

- small mini-games unique to each city (gambling, tournaments, etc) that players can compete with one another

- traveling quests are always a great way to introduce all of the areas to explore (escort quests come to mind)

- Chocobos, and Chocobo music ;)

- much more interesting ferry rides (sea monsters and pirates, yes please)