Real Time Airship Travel

Currently FFXIV:ARR works as such that you can go from city to city by airship, it takes a few minutes and is cheap. Cheaper than directly teleporting to and from each city's Aetheryte, as well. After a while you become accustomed to doing this and you do it without much thought. Basically, you click a few buttons and go through menus. Woo! Ul'dah to Limsa in under a minute.

Now, this is convenient and sure it's easy, but I don't see the difference apart from price, to simply teleporting there. I mean, that's what you're doing practically! If you forget something you needed from a different city it's no big deal because you can go back just as quick with no repercussion aside from being 100-200gil out of pocket. The process is thoughtless.

Going back a few years I used to play Maplestory (I know, not the finest MMO out there, but still) I'm sure other MMO's have done this as well, but the inclusion of real time airships to go to the places you wanted to, and having to get there on time or end up missing the airship was a great inclusion. Not only that but it was a rather fun social experience. Because it was real time and because other people would pay for their ticket on that specific airship as well as you you'd have 10 minutes of speaking to a bunch of people all heading to the same place as you.

I'm not sure about you guys, but aside from dungeons and my FC I don't interact frequently with other players in the world. Especially outside of cities.

At the start of the game you are given that chance at level 15(?) to travel back and forth on the airships to each city. If real time airships were to be included, not to alienate new players to begin with, and to keep friendly with the story, the new player could be told they are being sent on a private airship but from then on you'll be in with the folly of THE GENERAL EORZEA POPULATION~~ (At the same cost it is now) Having real time airships would make players think a lot more about when they should travel to another city. If they want to get there fast they have to pay for the teleporting, or pay a slight premium to have a faster but still not instant *solo* airship. It would bridge the gap in price.
Or maybe additionally with that mention of building airships yourself in your player house/basement thing in the super, end up being free?! It'd be a good level 50 quest considering the level cap being risen soon.

Overall, I think that teleporting from city-to-city could have a lot more purpose and become something more than just a second-thought or instant go to. The possibility for socializing especially at lower levels seems like it's almost needed.

Maybe i've gotten ahead of myself, what do you guys think? Am I missing somethin'?:confused:
(ok im done lol)

I'm all for the idea of an airship ride that's not just a cutscene, but players these days don't have the same level of patience as players did when XI launched (the Final Fantasy that pioneered the slow airship ride in the series). Further, they'd have to do the same thing they did in XI, make the airship ride it's own instance with an extrapolated world map passing by 'below'. They can't have it flying through the zones without having the player zone into each zone as if they were traversing the zones normally. The loading screens would get annoying fast.

The problem I find with this idea is that you're trying to force player interaction by making a feature less convenient, which I believe many players would resent.

Social potential should be a consideration when designing features, but so should convenience. If a player is going to spend time on something, like an airship ride, they should feel they get something from it, but if your idea was implemented I would feel like something was taken away instead.

Nobody takes the airships now, if you made them wait real time to travel using them nobody would use them then.

This will never be used for CURRENT cities. Perhaps in future when new main city is given, only way to reach is a airship and they can roll play it as its too far to teleport?

Once the Aethernet crystal is unlocked though, no one will ever use that airship again.

Yes, the teleporting can get expensive, but money is so easy to make now a days that cost shouldn't even be considered a factor when trying to get people to use the air ship.

I want this so bad! I'd love to be able to take an airship ride and sit out on the deck as the world passes under me. And PLEASE don't make it so a FATE or something pops up during the ride. That would ruin it.

The only way to get people to want to ride in boats and airship is adding some kind of content to them.

I think we get to build our own airship one day right? What would be the point though? Maybe something happens to the aether in the future and we'll lose our ability to teleport to all but a few locations? Perhaps then we'll see some sort of return to this kind of travel.

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Originally Posted by Artamie

I think we get to build our own airship one day right? What would be the point though? Maybe something happens to the aether in the future and we'll lose our ability to teleport to all but a few locations? Perhaps then we'll see some sort of return to this kind of travel.

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I don't think they will ever get rid of Aether travel. The point of the FC air ships is more then likely another money sink they want us to spend on. Plus, it will also allow us to get on top of the mansion roof.

I'm fine with this only if there's a choice. A single, permanent choice. So that you can never take back having to wait for an airship again, and I can continue hopping from city to city in the span of a few seconds. -_-

Considering the lack of use that airships get after the quest-related reasons, I can definitely see some good coming out of something like this.

Maybe combine it with some kind of new fishing content? I know they get an ability that lets them fish from the sky, so why not fish off an airship?

I could see how some people might of not liked the 5-10min airship flights on XI, but I loved em. It really felt like you were in the world of Vanadiel as you flew over the area with really catchy music.

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Originally Posted by HakuroDK

so why not fish off an airship?

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This is a good idea, I'm hoping they expand in this direction!

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Originally Posted by Ferrasper

I don't think they will ever get rid of Aether travel. The point of the FC air ships is more then likely another money sink they want us to spend on. Plus, it will also allow us to get on top of the mansion roof.

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Yeah, sometimes I don't know why I get my hopes up lol.

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Originally Posted by Tempting

I could see how some people might of not liked the 5-10min airship flights on XI, but I loved em. It really felt like you were in the world of Vanadiel as you flew over the area with really catchy music.

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It did add a certain touch of realism didn't it? For some odd reason Eorzea sometimes feels a bit dead compared to Vana'diel but that may just be the nostalgia goggles talking.

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Originally Posted by Dyvid

The only way to get people to want to ride in boats and airship is adding some kind of content to them.

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FFXI had pirates. Maybe XIV could have airship pirates. It could be like a FATE, basically. Maybe have a token for getting gold that you can buy fancy air pirate clothes with. Or make it a silly "just for fun" fight like Battle on the Big Bridge.

And since there's no airship schedule to adhere to, you could just have people pick an option when they board if they just want to be automatically teleported to the destination or go to the airship ride. Not that anyone has ridden an airship in 7 months.

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Originally Posted by Fawkes

FFXI had pirates. Maybe XIV could have airship pirates. It could be like a FATE, basically. Maybe have a token for getting gold that you can buy fancy air pirate clothes with. Or make it a silly "just for fun" fight like Battle on the Big Bridge.

And since there's no airship schedule to adhere to, you could just have people pick an option when they board if they just want to be automatically teleported to the destination or go to the airship ride. Not that anyone has ridden an airship in 7 months.

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I had actually forgotten they even existed. I was only reminded of them recently when I started leveling an alt up.

I think the main issue isn't the airships, but that there's no real social hub.

I mean, in Gridania we have a stage that goes unused most of the time, and when it is used during an event, it's just a guy with a "!" over his head.

It would be nice if there were show times for events like these. People came in, took a seat, mingled for a while, and then all watched a cutscene together.

Something people could opt into, but people would want to do.

I hope the Gold Saucer has some social elements to it.

I enjoyed the airship rides in FF11 for a while, but it got old. And if you missed the boat that all your friends were on, it sucked to be 15 minutes behind them. You either miss out, had to make your way through the wilderness on your own to find them, or made them wait even longer for your sorry ass.

Easiest way to be social right now is to open up the chat window and start talking. I see people shout talking in Coerthas all the time.

I use the airships all the time, and I miss the old version where you waited on them, and how you actually took a ferry ride to and from La Noscea. I would love to have them make both the ferry and airships into trips and not just pseudo teleports.

Imagines having a deck full of sitting Lalafells swaying in time... this could either scare everyone away or make it immensely popular.

Sure, just as long as its a choice. Waiting around is not my idea of fun. I do enough boring crap in real life as it is, so i'd rather not have to do that in my vidya too.

The only way to implement this without pissing anyone off is to make it a tour ship whose sole purpose is to be a long scenic ride that you spend with people. Maybe they could allow skyfishing or some other minigame while it happens. We will never get mandatory real time travel, it has no place in a modern MMO.

Personally, I think the best way to implement such a feature is not the FFXI way of doing things, in that it's too realistic with it's far-apart scheduling and slow-boat-to-Doma speed whether you want it or not. FFXII had a much better system where when you paid for your ticket you were given the choice of either 'private cabin', which was an instant travel to your destination, or 'pleasure cruise', which was the 'slow', real-time travel where you could explore the ship and speak to npcs.

Making airship travel in such a manner would allow players that want to use it a social hub can do so, while also satisfying the requirements of those who just want to get where they're going right away without fuss.

And although as someone mentioned earlier that before they could even implement real time airship travel, a specific 'flying' zone would have to be created first for the airship to fly through, it's likely SE is already planning this, given the fact Yoshi hinted recently that the keyword for the game's future is 'flight' and how players will be able to build their own airships.

So I guess it's 'keep watching the skies'. ;)

I don't think i ever used Airships, beside the part where you had to via the Storyline. What is missing, is the long ride and watching from the Sky. Traveling is way too easy in FFXIV, compared to FFXI. So Airships are currently a waste in the Game. I did not like the main-idea of everyone being able to teleport around in first place, but yeah.. i guess that's a problem of the playerbase who want access to everything with every class.

I would like long travels, with actual Content on it and the same goes for the Boat-Trips. Getting attacked by other Airships, fighting NM's there.. ( Monster Hunt would give a chance for Airships/Ships to be useful ), or even Skyfishing/Fishing there.

Back in 1.0 the boat from outside Uldah to Limsa was a real time boat trip. With schedules, (i think) fishing, occasional lousy weather, and a nice area to sit and chat to pass the time. I rarely saw anyone else on the boat to chat with and when i did they usually sat and went afk.

I miss just taking it easy and riding the boat. I would appreciate some more living world content like that as an option.

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Originally Posted by WellFooled

The problem I find with this idea is that you're trying to force player interaction by making a feature less convenient, which I believe many players would resent.

Social potential should be a consideration when designing features, but so should convenience. If a player is going to spend time on something, like an airship ride, they should feel they get something from it, but if your idea was implemented I would feel like something was taken away instead.

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This. Forcing player to interact won't make the game more social, just look at DF. People will say hi and bye (if you're lucky) but most times it will be a longer, silent ride. If you wanna talk to people go to them and start talking! You don't need an airship.

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Originally Posted by Moqi

This. Forcing player to interact won't make the game more social, just look at DF. People will say hi and bye (if you're lucky) but most times it will be a longer, silent ride. If you wanna talk to people go to them and start talking! You don't need an airship.

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True, I agree, but if this was implemented so it WAS a choice and you're given the option to socialize rather than forced to, hense why I said if people don't want to they can take a solo airship for a little more costwise but still under the cost of the current aetheryte teleporting.

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Originally Posted by Enkidoh

Personally, I think the best way to implement such a feature is not the FFXI way of doing things, in that it's too realistic with it's far-apart scheduling and slow-boat-to-Doma speed whether you want it or not. FFXII had a much better system where when you paid for your ticket you were given the choice of either 'private cabin', which was an instant travel to your destination, or 'pleasure cruise', which was the 'slow', real-time travel where you could explore the ship and speak to npcs.

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Well it could be frequent enough so that you're not waiting around, like every 10 minutes or something, with on the hour airships being slightly cheaper!

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Originally Posted by FelisC

Nobody takes the airships now, if you made them wait real time to travel using them nobody would use them then.

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Why not 2 NPCs where the player can choose what airship ride he want?
Express ticket - fast travel with only the starting and landing as CS
Tourist ticket - show starting and landing CS and show the whole ride in a special airship zone with Eorzea under the ship (like the ferry ride during 1.0)

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Originally Posted by FelisC

Nobody takes the airships now, if you made them wait real time to travel using them nobody would use them then.

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Oh really? I use them quite frequently if I give myself enough planning ahead to return to a city then travel to another, for cost purposes.
Then there really does need to be a reason for using them because they've made it look extremely elaborate with that cutscene of it flying over the cities when really its like "Lol press 3 buttons look now im here"

Teleport is just too convenient ....

Gil cost is just too cheap for teleport used ....

I will not say its not good, its just things too convenient

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Originally Posted by FelisC

Nobody takes the airships now, if you made them wait real time to travel using them nobody would use them then.

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I sometimes use the airships for a little RP.

SE just need to give more incentive for using them. x2 resting / exp bonus or something like that.

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Originally Posted by Altimis

Teleport is just too convenient ....

Gil cost is just too cheap for teleport used ....

I will not say its not good, its just things too convenient

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And that's the main problem. It is too convenient and becomes a thoughless and uninspired problem. It's all down to how the playerbase feels. Would people rather stay lazy and teleport at ease? Yes, I'm sure. (Even I would reform back to it) But having realtime airships atleast as an option would give other players some sense of connecting with the world. Especially a sense of scale thing.

Not all read all posts ^^

But they used to have in 1.0 where you boarded the ship and had to wait as it travelled, used to fish or craft during the passage. Wasn't any social interaction with it either tbh as many just went AFK during the trip.

Also EQ1 had slow travelling transportation before FFXI :D

The problem is that the world is separated with countless loading screens. It is not one vast open world so that wouldn't be possible to implement.

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Originally Posted by Edli

The problem is that the world is separated with countless loading screens. It is not one vast open world so that wouldn't be possible to implement.

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I don't see a problem
It would be only 2 loading screens
1. loading screen the moment you get loaded on the ship
2. Airship fly in a special zone, where you can see Eorzea under you
3. Leave the ship with another loading screen

Example the 1.0 ferry ride, it happened also in a zone and not in the seamless world:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sDWjtDzr-MM

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Originally Posted by Felis

2. Airship fly in a special zone, where you can see Eorzea under you

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Ah, I thought OP meant it like when flying on WoW. I would much more prefer to fly through the actual game world, with people down doing stuff. Special zone? Meh, I would just teleport.

I hate the fragmentation of the world so much in this game.

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Originally Posted by Edli

Ah, I thought OP meant it like when flying on WoW. I would much more prefer to fly through the actual game world, with people down doing stuff. Special zone? Meh, I would just teleport.

I hate the fragmentation of the world so much in this game.

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Whilst that'd be awesome, I don't think it'll ever happen unfortunately. And as you said, the way the game world is broken up at the moment makes it tricky.

(Kinda reminds me when you're walking somewhere irl and you look up and there's a airplane, like woah people livin' their own little lives inside that thing)