One to Fifty, One Zone - Long OP

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Originally Posted by Reinheart

lol as soon as I finished all missions on Gridania I switched to Bastok lolol I was thinking Gridania kind of looked like one of the areas from FFX forgot where lol. Even with Grid being hell, I still liked some of the stuff there :D heaven's tower music was good lol

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You're thinking of Windurst, bud. :)
Heaven's Tower music was lovely -- I think something I really liked about the XI music was the use of traditional and ethnic instruments in many areas. Pan flute, mandolin, harps, shakers, all that nice stuff that added exotic 'spice.' ^^
As opposed to predominately electronic creations. :p

Actually here....
http://grooveshark.com/#/album/Final...Zilart/3781964
Anything from Zilart to get the creative vibes on zone ideas flowing :p
Notice how each song fits so well with the themes of the zones, such cohesion.
(What XIV misses)

i'd love to see what ffxi had over what we have now. outside the fact that all u need to do from rank 25+ is do rank40 leves all way to 50. even if wanted to go exp grind the normal way, it is very lacking. i would love to see a dunes-2 lol. basically everything in this post towards this i agree on.

i think biggest mistake is, i think they is/are planning to make leves a larger part of sp'ing ...as u can see theres lots of crystals we have yet to reach. this will be a horrible idea. 1-50 leves and then 50-100 on another set? no thanks. if u can't make it right i'd rather see ffxi-2 out of this game then.

also i think mistake letting us be able to teleport to a crystal by other people even if never been there. this takes away alot from the game. first time crystal touches created a sense of exploration in the game. now all we need is a friend or 50k, horrible. then ontop that u run out of anima to places u been to, so pointless.

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Originally Posted by Pooky

This is the single biggest thing that has turned me off to this game and makes it EXTREMELY hard for me to log in anymore. I've been playing since September and am still stuck in the starter areas. Still seeing the same environments. This doesn't feel like a MMO to me. I am only rank 32 on my conjurer, but I literally have to get myself psyched for an hour before I can log in to level

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You sound just like me! I've been playing since closed beta and I have one combat class I've put any work into, which is my R24 Conjurer. People talk about their concern for this game having replay value for their other R50's. I don't even have one R50, given I have to push myself to go do any leveling.

And trust me, I'm emotionally invested in this game. I brought my LS over from FFXI, and I've built us a completely new website. It troubles me that I have such little motivation to play this game. But at R24, halfway to level cap, I feel like I'm still in the starting area doing the same old things, and it just shouldn't be that way.

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Originally Posted by kurokawa

(...)Are they going to change the copy paste landscapes and introduce real character to the land of Eorzea, or are they limited to adding a few camps and dungeons?
If they can't change it, why are they limited? Is it cost, manpower, Memory or the actual engine?
Will the starter area landscapes stay the same?
Whats the deal with everything being copy paste?
Will new areas be better thought through?
Will every camp look similar in future??
Do they agree that leveling from 1-50 in a barren canyon is most people's idea of hell?(...)

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Originally Posted by Sorel

(...)And this is what this thread touches upon. The lack of variety in zones, the monster distribution, the Anima System, the Guildleve System, etc ... may not be directly responsible for the lack of psychological progression, but they each contribute.

Why does the least dangerous part of a region look identical to the most dangerous part?
Why do the most dangerous monsters in the game live in the same region as a beginning city?
Why can I be teleported to an Aetheryte I've never visited?
Why are the highest ranked quests in the game in beginning cities?

If the empirical progression doesn't place at least some demand for adjusting a players interaction with their world (even as little as seeing a different part of it), that players psychological progression throughout the game will be anemic at best. They will get bored quickly, because they are not required to see or do or fight anything differently from one week to the next ... or from one month to the next.(...)

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So many good points brought up in the last few pages, I worry I can't fit them all! Nabbed a few to bring over to this page for late arrivals. And to say I agree with them all.

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Originally Posted by Rowyne

(...)But at R24, halfway to level cap, I feel like I'm still in the starting area, and it just shouldn't be that way.(...)

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Well said, again, Rowyne. :)

No matter how we get there, in the end, I think we all want the same: A diverse, expansive, progressive world. Room for expansion beyond our current 5 zones.

It's a lot of work. It'd take a lot of time. I'm willing to wait, but need an answer: Will we ever have a true adventure from 1 to 50?

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Originally Posted by Zahak

*lays out dead lalafell for Malboro Bayo bait* <_<

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Some of you really crack me up.

Wish I could do more for everyone to bring us an answer.

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Originally Posted by weeble

i think biggest mistake is, i think they is/are planning to make leves a larger part of sp'ing ...as u can see theres lots of crystals we have yet to reach. this will be a horrible idea. 1-50 leves and then 50-100 on another set? no thanks. if u can't make it right i'd rather see ffxi-2 out of this game then.

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This worries me as well. The current world is designed around the camps in the middle of zones for doing leves, even the higher-ranked areas we don't have leves for yet. Leves that bring up no emotions or interest in the player, not even an involved npc character dishing story to deepen our task. I feel like such an automaton doing leves, and the ones hanging around in Ul'dah seem happier than myself. :P
The current structure could definitely hinder what players would consider 'ideal' and developed zones, and is something we will hopefully be able to bring up as a playerbase and find compromise about.

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Originally Posted by charliesheen

They should just make 'areas' different within the giant zones and have the music change in said areas. Isn't that what they were aiming for but haven't delivered?

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If they cannot do a true redesign, then, yes, this is what needs to happen (making the subzones truly unique, with different landscapes, monsters and music).

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Originally Posted by Rowyne

You sound just like me! I've been playing since closed beta and I have one combat class I've put any work into, which is my R24 Conjurer. People talk about their concern for this game having replay value for their other R50's. I don't even have one R50, given I have to push myself to go do any leveling.

And trust me, I'm emotionally invested in this game. I brought my LS over from FFXI, and I've built us a completely new website. It troubles me that I have such little motivation to play this game. But at R24, halfway to level cap, I feel like I'm still in the starting area doing the same old things, and it just shouldn't be that way.

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Ahaha, me too! Been in since CB, and have been holding on since. :3 Quit once after reaching r28 getting 0-60sp a puk kill. I have some 50 jobs, about to get the next one started :( The game has just become a chore rather than fun, and I can't fall to behind for when/if it becomes decent. I don't know how I'm still playing really, I didn't play XI so I don't even know how great SE is at MMO's when it comes to my personal experience. Here's to hoping, and a free bump!

i'd rather see this game turn to ffxi graphics then have that an excuse for crappy gameplay and content. besides if u lower the graphics on this game it looks as bad or worse then ffxi><

i don't really care if we get zones or if it's semi streamless. they put those things in weird places anyway ...like where all the birds are and they repop after a minute. that is like right dab in a spot where lot of people would grind lol.

i think it is safe to say most people want to see regular grinding back in play and in a large variety of ways and mobs that are dynamic.

Again, to Square and late arrivals: This thread simply calls for a new and diverse spread of zones. With unique environments, ecosystems, and atmosphere. A sense of progression, milestones.

Perhaps even to feel we're further and further from home as we grow stronger. To leave the starting zones, to leave our cities behind when we embark on an adventure.

For others to aspire to be able to go to the places we're able to go. Right now, as soon as we step into these zones and camps for the first time, we've already seen most we'll ever see. There's no sense of wonder as to what we'll find.

And there's no need for Square Enix to ever make new areas, when these areas do all the work for them, for now and in the far, far future. To fix this lack of immersion, this numbness in the world, they must bring us to care about it. To be excited to travel to the next camp. Over the next milestone. Fresh flavors, the unexpected, bright scenery, drab atmosphere...

Snow, swamps, mountains, beaches, marshes, jungles, forests, tundras, moorlands, prairies, canyons, woods, wastes, deserts, tropics...

A world where 1 to 50 cannot be found in ONE zone. Where one zone tries to disguise itself as a region.

I worry should they continue to build on top of this foundation.

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Originally Posted by charliesheen

@Chrees: You have my gratitude Sir. Clearly SE have a special way with programming, and by special I mean not very good. So they are incapable of doing it without loading screens... Pitiful. Alas, I will continue playing even if the dreaded loading screens do return. My soul is already possessed by the satanic corporation.

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Haha, no problem! And I do agree wholeheartedly. People have been complaining about this since alpha/beta, and the answer we got in that interview is probably the only reasoning we'll ever get, regardless of how sucky and/or potentially untrue it might be. All we can do now is hope they find some way around that. :(