The Only Content That Will Keep People Occupied (Almost) Indefinitely
Procedurally Generated Content!
So, my personal idea for procedurally generated content starts with the reality that the current zones don't work with the rest of this idea, so the first part is to make a new zone. Since many people want giant zones, open-world content, constant streams of new content, and some believe the current desert area in Southern Thanalan is a joke of a desert, let's combine all of those concepts into something that can keep people occupied for a good long while. Therefore, I present to you:
The Twisted Sandstorm zone (requires class level 50 to enter, no ilvl requirements):
- An open-world zone that anyone (with their current class at level 50) can enter, and doesn't even necessarily need to be incredibly huge (simply the same size as a normal, full-sized zone, should be enough with the rest of this).
- An unending sandstorm (or snowstorm or dust storm or whatever other kind of storm makes sense) distorts visibility and makes it impossible to know where you're going or what's coming toward you. This is the primary mechanic to make the rest work. The entire zone is a series of clear spots within the storm with various conent at each point.
- A player that enters the zone starts on the edge of the sandstorm, still able to back away if they so choose, and able to change classes/jobs. An Aetheryte nearby allows a player to set this point as a Return point, and a small camp of treasure-hunting NPCs with a vendor/mender nearby provides an introduction to the mechanics. A special orb allows a party to register together so that they don't get separated.
- Once a player enters the storm, they are transported to a random clear spot in the storm. If the player is part of a party, he will go to the same clear spot as the rest of the party (even if the party has progressed a ways in, so that they can recruit new members to join them anytime, or set a limit so that you have to wait for someone to stumble into the same spot to add them). If a person leaves the party (or is kicked), they will lose the party link, so they will no longer be able to follow the party.
- While inside the storm, players can only change their class to another class that is at level 50 (including gathering/crafting classes, although these could be limited to certain spots if class-change trolling would be an issue).
- Players can randomly enter clear spots occupied by other players. Anyone that participates in a clear spot battle can also receive the rewards, as if they were in the same party. Clear spots can each hold a maximum of 8 players while content still exists, or 16 if it's been completed. Participation (and therefore need/greed limits) can be graded similar to FATEs to prevent AFKers from getting in on loot they don't deserve.
- Each clear spot would hold various content, such as single enemies (of any type, adjusted to level 50, including elites like the Halitostroper in Central Shroud), enemy groups (of any mixture, with either one fully-linked group or a fully-unlinked group, including elites), FATE encounters (adjusted to level 50), 4-man dungeon bosses/NM primals (adjusted to level 50 but WP/AK/PS/HM Dungeon bosses have a lower ilvl requirement to beat), 8-man dungeon bosses/raid bosses/HM primals (adjusted to level 50 with lower ilvl requirement to beat, so Coil/CT bosses/Primals would end up being easier), treasure hunt chests (that don't require a map), treasure coffers, merchants/menders, random chatty NPCs, nothing, other content types and rewards not yet created, an oasis, random mirages that just trick players but aren't actually real, etc.
- In general, though, a player/group should enter a spot and occasionally find nothing, then have the content come out of the storm as they wander through (whether that be an angry basilisk, a treasure chest that flies out of the sand to land at your feet, or Titan's Mountain Buster as he opens with post-heart phase before anybody's ready). Or it could just end up being nothing, but you should never know until you've searched around a bit.
- (Now, the procedurally-generated part) If a clear spot is empty of all players, simply lock it so players can't enter, re-fill the spot immediately with a random content type, and then unlock it for players to stumble into. Once the random content type has been completed, lock the clear spot after 10 seconds so other players can't enter (anyone who enters in that 10 second time limit will find nothing but other players). Once the spot is empty, re-fill, and then unlock. The whole process should keep the spot out of circulation for less than a minute after everyone's gone.
- Leaving a clear spot requires being outside of the clear spot for 5 seconds. When a person leaves the clear spot, they begin wandering through the sandstorm, and after a random period of time they enter a new clear spot (really just teleported without the teleport loading screen). Other party members enter the clear spot as they load in.
- Even with each clear spot at the size of a larger boss arena, the number of clear spots should be able to contain the maximum player population for a given zone, and the memory requirements even for PS3 can be made much lower since everything outside of the clear spot can be unloaded from memory, treating each clear spot as its own mini-zone within the larger zone. And since we're dealing with individual spots that players just stumble upon, things like /shout and /tell can be disabled both to prevent RMT spammers/abusers as well as satisfy immersion. This does, however, put a larger strain on the server....
- If every clear spot is actually filled, and the area can't hold anyone else, players can just wander out of the storm and find themselves back at the initial camp. This could also just happen as a random occurrence instead of entering a new clear spot.
- Rewards can be small and common or large and rare, they can be hidden within the clear spots, certain spots could have gathering points or require a crafter to create a key from supplies in the area to open a treasure chest, boss fights should be rare but also still give some reward to justify the effort, or a player could find a critter that links them and their party and runs away when approached, and managing to follow that critter through multiple clear spots (with their own dangers/rewards to tempt adventurers from following) leads them to a rare spot that gives unique rewards for the zone.
- Even PF can play a role, as a player or small group that finds a big boss or needs a gatherer/crafter for something can start a PF group to recruit helpers, who would then be able to travel through the sands to immediately join up. Although on the other side of party-making I'm rather partial myself to having to rely on waiting for others to stumble into your spot and create a ragtag PUG to challenge a weakened Twintania or Demon Wall (that comes with its own bridge over a pit and tries to push you back into the sandstorm).
How's that sound?
