Seasons/Weather

Well, after seeing update 1.21 i decided to give this game a go and i have been enjoying myself so far. The one thing though that has bothered me for a while even before i started playing, and something many other players pointed out is the lack of events/life in the game.Barely or no random events(such as wild life interacting and npcs traveling roads, little things that help make the world feel more alive). There are too many static robotic npcs that don't have much to do...i understand certain npcs cannot really given much to do since it would greatly inconvience players not being able to find npcs simple repairs, rental chocobo's, etc. There is no REAL random events or changes in the world that actually MATTER.The type that changes the way you feel when exploring or how you approach battles/obstacles/situations.

So my suggestion for this game to help give it a more dynamic feel is seasons..or at the very least extreme world changing weather(FF12 style)that has a GREAT impact on the way you explore/discover an area. Like having a lake freeze over during winter season/snowy weather opening up new pathways/areas to explore that you couldnt reach previously due to limitations of jumping(when added) disallowing the player to reach that high ledge without solid footing. Places like FF12's giza planes where it would flood and create an entire new zone with it's own subset of monsters and you HAD to approach it differently since it wasn't an open rolling plain anymore, you had to take narrow passage ways and had new enviromental challenges. It was efficient too on SE's part because they could use the base zone to an create entire new zone adding replayability to the zone and a bit of depth and personality to the world making it a less static and monotonous copy pasta world.

I lean more towards seasons instead of just simple weather because overall it would be more annoying to make such dramatic changes to the world frequently while players
are exploring it. However, if you could change the season and the base of the zone every earth week(4 seasons a earth month) having the screen go black once a week transitioning to those new types of zones (with players starting at a zone etrance) with new types of monsters, maybe even changing the level of creatures(in certain areas of the zone only) and new exclusive roaming NM's adding rarity to thier powerful and unique items, but also adding reasons to re-explore areas even at higher levels(or with leveling new jobs) literally multiplying the content of the game to a degree due to all the nuances that could easily be added to each zone because of a simple idea like seasons.

The reason for seasons lasting a earth week is to allow enough time to gather and hunt your bounty's worth of monster/plants/ores for that season....all the while keeping the base gathering materials that you would normally gather from the zone so you would not destroy the balance for newer/older players relying on those consistent flow of key materials used for scaled leveling, and at the same time allow even lower level players a chance to get higher level materials during the right season in maybe less dangerous zones they would normally appear in. Ultimately, not robbing players of what they would normally be used to, but actually add MORE to each zone rather than taking from it.

Many events could be based on seasons too, such as CANON holidays/festivals/events that are not complete copies/rip offs of our own holidays(christmas,easter,valetines days,etc.), but maybe exclusive events that add unique lore/story to the world and change the types of npcs that would appear in towns and cities for the duration of that week allowing savvy players to buy those "rare" materials/comodities of that season and sell them for higher during seasons where they would not appear or would require you to gather in dangerous areas instead of buying it from a npc. Adding convience for players who are well informed,and risk to players who are not...adding more fun/skill/exploration to areas they thought to have fully explored.That you can be considered skillful just by simply aquiring the right kind of knowledge allowing you to profit more easily. Thus creating multiple ways to acheive the same goals. Almost like in FFXI where different nations could control areas and get exclusive npcs added to the city giving items you could normally get from that zone to that specific shop and they would not appear unless that nation was in a specific place as well as controlling creating constant change to cities. Where seasons would determine the state of a city not the place in conquest.

I don't believe certain npcs like guild, tutorital, or main quest npcs should be moved too much or at all. Just less important npcs that don't inconvenience players to much but still have an impact on the economy and way you enjoy the world. That you can always count on a repair npc being in the same spot, but his little niece
might be next to him during spring only and could be found elsewhere in town during other seasons still allowing you to finish quests given to you by this npc. And to not confuse players by adding a map indicator showing you where these npcs have moved to on your map/compass like you would see during leve-quests pointing the general direction of your objective. Indicated by and arrow exactly where the npc is.Almost exaclty how skyrim and oblivion handled it since npcs would always be traveling to different houses,cities, shops,etc.
(If these is already something like this for normal NON leve quests/missions i apologize)

This idea could easily create more traffic between all cities giving them all more life,purpose, and most of all convenience to other players who want to find other players more easily. Softening the mentatlity that every player has to go to Ul'dah for every type of service you receive from other players.

Aside from the obvious changes to the enviroment that could come from different season...there could be exclusive traveling npcs walking the roads in between cities, exclusive leve-quests and normal quests.

For Example: A special NM werewolf terrorizes a nearby camp/town only during winter/night, or a super rare lightning-based HNM bird that appears only in stormy weather.

These not necessarily being specific quests you get from npcs but objectives or events that could repeat each season that can give players goals and events to liven the wilderness up a bit.

Specific weather can maybe even prevent other monsters/factions/beast men from attacking due to inclement weather.(such as garlean empire unable to use airships to Invade/attack during stormy weather, or prevent mechs from appearing because of joints freezing/slowing movement during winter).

The obvious problem to all this is...could SE really pull this off? Would it be a huge inconvience to them? As in...pushing 2.0 back or a complete re-design of what they already have done for 2.0? Maybe, i am not ignorant to the potential problems it could have from a game development standpoint. At the same time could see how it could be somewhat efficient of them to re-use zones for extra content fleshing the world out more.They have done this before with FFXI litterally adding "new" zones in WotG and Abyssea all the while re-using resources. So ultimately i dont think it would be that unheard of to do such a thing, esspcially given thier track record...AND it would be more than just a re-used zone, but a whole new entire way of looking at it more-so than just higher level monsters and a sky color change(Abyssea).

Thank you for reading my wall o' text. :P