Mob, Armor, Zone, and Leveling Variety

[SIZE="5"]Issues addressed in this post for those who don't want to read my Wall-o-text"[/SIZE]
Some of these issues are actually last minute thoughts, so they aren't in the original post, also if you have an idea please post it and I may add it to the original post
-Greater variation in the look of mobs to add a sense that the player is not fighting the same thing over and over again, a simple color and size change for several different kinds of mobs would even do the job

-More armor options so that players don't all look the same and to add a variety of stat combinations to allow for more strategic gear choices

-Although the mega-zones are nice, I feel like there is a great lack of variety in leveling places. Level in Thanalan, La Noscea, or Black Shroud till about 35 then go to Coerthas till 50, then mess around in Mor Dhona a little, just doesn't seem like enough to me. I think a greater variety of choices in places to level and rank up would be a great addition to the game

-An even greater variety of music to the sound track, adding music for zones that don't currently have any music like Cassiopeia Hollow, Nanawa Mines, and Tam-Tara Croft

-More dungeon options while leveling and adding an epic mode option for each dungeon so that R50s can go through lower level dungeons with higher ranked mobs, it would make it more beneficial

-Subzones in the middle of the massive zones, as well as utilization of town areas like the Gold and Silver Bazaar, I also feel like small quest hubs scattered throughout would be greatly beneficial--which means more settlements than we currently have

-Unique outdoor areas that require group partying and would have a chain of quests to go along with them that would take the players through a story for each area

-Add more quests with substantially more exp for a reward and maybe even have quest scaling system to where all quests gathered scale to the players level and rank, or to the average rank of a player party

-More player aesthetic options in the character creation system, and allow players who currently have characters to redo the look of the character once more looks are implemented

-Give us Ishgard ^_^

-Chocobo raising, racing, and riding

-More things to do other than level or craft, sort of like Pankration, mog houses, etc. It makes the world seem more fleshed and real

-A story line that flows together more fluidly, at the moment I can hardly remember what has happened in the previous story quest because there is too long of a break before I can reach it

- An option to control the members of your LS with a Kick button, promote button, etc. I feel the LS menu is very limiting and I'm tired of reshelling

-A streamlined UI that has keybindings for inventory, social, ls, etc. As well as a quick click menu instead of having to go to that abysmal side menu. Inventory needs to be reworked to where you can drag and drop items out to discard them or drag them out to move them, and lastly, there should be an auto sort button that sorts items by item type.


I would also like to state that the design team is doing an EXCELLENT job, please keep up the good work. I appreciate the pace of things that you guys are trying to achieve because it lets me know that you really are working hard to make this game better

Related posts: http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...orzea-would-be...

This is completely an aesthetic suggestion but as I'm sure you and everyone else is aware aesthetics matter. I've noticed recently that the mobs in each of the zones lack an amount of variety, every Dodo looks exactly the same, every Spriggan looks exactly the same, every Doe looks exactly the same, ever Salamander looks exactly the same, etc. My issue is that I feel the mobs are very generic because there's nothing unique about each individual mob you are fighting, except maybe a different name (i.e. Fat Dodo versus a Dodo) but why bother to change the name if you don't plan to change the appearance a little bit at least? Simply altering the color slightly (which I know is not very costly) and even changing the size of the mob might make a huge difference in terms of a feeling that you are fighting a different kind of mob.

Another thing I've had issues with is there is not enough Armor variety or choices, every single Marauder I see is wearing some sort of Haubergeon, pretty much same kind of gauntlets, similar looking boots, etc. Same for DoMs, all wearing either a cowl or a robe with similar looking hat, same gloves, similar weapons, etc. I just feel like the lack of options makes the game seem very bland in that regard, I feel like players should be presented with a myriad of armor options throughout their leveling experience so that they are forced to pick, choose, and pair armor based on stats to optimize skills they want, as well as simply adding a variety of aesthetic options. It will force players to tactically pair items to match their playing styles, which I think is always important. There is some variety but not near enough to make players feel like a unique person within the game world.

I also want to emphasize Zone Variety, there is not enough zone variety or variety within the zones. I know you all are addressing this but due to lack of details I feel I should address my grievances with this issue now so that they can possibly be kept in mind later on. I basically have 3 options for leveling till my latter 30s, Thanalan, La Noscea, or Black Shroud. Each gets extremely repetitive after a while and ultimately I get bored. Granted the area design is gorgeous and I feel like that should be touched on, I love the atmosphere in each--but you can only have so much of one atmosphere within a game before it gets monotonous, especially in these Themepark styled games. I feel like there should be more zones for players to explore, and within each zone have a greater variety of unique locations to make the experience of exploration more rewarding. Right now I find a lot of copy and pasted mountains, caves, camps, trees, rivers, etc. The only unique locations I've seen are those empty towns, settlements, unique areas like Cassiopeia Hollow and Nanawa Mines, and Cities. When you look at that in the grander scale of the zones sizes there's a lot of barren and repeated area between. I feel like maybe some interesting ruins you can explore and maybe even go inside here, a little village there (maybe even a mildly large town), a strange shrub forest here, a massive and unique boulder here, etc. Would all go a very large way in making the zones seem more varied.

Lastly I want to address leveling variety, which I know is an issue that is getting addressed in patch 1.2, but again I want to address it just so I can get my opinion out there and maybe touch on something that hasn't been (not to say my opinions are the only way to do things, they are opinions after all ;) ) I feel like I have three options for leveling right now; leves, grind, or one instance. I feel the game isn't fleshed out enough in this area either, players get very tired of grinding and doing the same leves over and over again. I know settlements are supposed to be quest hubs and what not, but I am just hoping that there a copious amount of quests available for players at these hubs that they become a viable alternative for ranking up, I also feel that these quests should be more story oriented than other MMOs, and so far you all have been doing a great job. I also feel like a lot of quests don't give enough SP to make them worthwhile, so I hope this issue is addressed. I think a variety of quest types would be good as well, have quests that have a story, have Bounties where you hunt for unique monsters, maybe even NMs, have instance quests, gathering, and crafting, so that everyone has something to do when they go to gather quests. I also feel like some group quests for unique non-instanced zones might be nice, maybe have a crash site where Garleans have landed and have players do a few quest lines that involve this area, maybe their stories could even tie in together for one epic conclusion to a side story of sorts. I also feel like there should be more instances than the two we have, granted their big, varied, and fun; but I can only do Toto-Rak so many times before it kind of becomes boring as well. I would suggest maybe 3 unique instances for players every 10-15 levels to participate in, which would be great fun. I feel like a greater emphasis on grouping is needed, although I will say after 1.18 I've felt greatly more inclined to group in leves and what not, possibly because a lot of people came back to check out the games progress after the patch. Oh, also, if a greater amount of Grand Company quests could be added that would be great. I love doing quests for factions and I like the idea of Grand Companies as a sort of faction, it's really interesting a great move!

These are a few suggestion, sorry for the wall-o-text, but you know it's how I roll ^_^. I want to compliment you all though, this game is coming a long way and I've been able to play it for hours on end and have a great time. I haven't really gotten bored once after the patch and I've been playing pretty much non-stop, so great job! :D

http://garygoh.files.wordpress.com/2...ll-of-text.jpg

Only joking :P.

Mob variety acording to zone would actually be a great addition to the game, and i mean more than just a reskinning of every bloody rat and marmot under the sun, its rather boring and reptitive. I'm sure they'll get round to it as i believe are are going to improve the current zone themes for each area and make them more unique, im sure this includes monsters as well.

Hahahahaha, thanks for actually reading my wall of painful text. I may want to condense that so others can process it quickly! Yeah I hope the reskinning of mobs happens because it would be a great addition to the game! I also believe they need to add even more variety to the music tracks, Tam-Tara Croft, Cassiopeia Hollow, Nanawa Mines, and other areas don't even HAVE tracks. I think some ethereal ambiance would even suffice.

It is definately starting to happen, a few areas in each zone actually have music change to different tracks, if you head through Thanalan over to Nophicas Wells you will experience this transition.

I believe that it may be on hold currently however, since they are planning to rebuild each of the start zones to be much more memorable, unique themed and exciting, so i'd assume they are just waiting till they implement these rebuilt areas to add in all the variety and atmosphere you could hope for :)

Yeah probably. :) I know the FFXIV design team is working tremendously hard and I appreciate it greatly. Some people think all these sudden changes are too hastily done but I understand their reasons for patching as quick as humanly possible--they want to show us players that they are working and are also trying to bring the game to a state where is can easily compete with other games that are coming out in a few months. I can't wait to see the rebuilt areas though! :D I think they will be awesome.

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-Greater variation in the look of mobs to add a sense that the player is not fighting the same thing over and over again, a simple color and size change for several different kinds of mobs would even do the job

-More armor options so that players don't all look the same and to add a variety of stat combinations to allow for more strategic gear choices

-An even greater variety of music to the sound track, adding music for zones that don't currently have any music like Cassiopeia Hollow, Nanawa Mines, and Tam-Tara Croft

-More dungeon options while leveling and adding an epic mode option for each dungeon so that R50s can go through lower level dungeons with higher ranked mobs, it would make it more beneficial

-Subzones in the middle of the massive zones, as well as utilization of town areas like the Gold and Silver Bazaar, I also feel like small quest hubs scattered throughout would be greatly beneficial--which means more settlements than we currently have

-Unique outdoor areas that require group partying and would have a chain of quests to go along with them that would take the players through a story for each area

-More player aesthetic options in the character creation system, and allow players who currently have characters to redo the look of the character once more looks are implemented

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Definitely, +1 on this. :)

Yeah I'm really glad that Yoshi addressed many of these issues in his latest interview with Famitsu, it really brings me reassurance that he is listening to the community and what they want. I can only hope that he address all these issues eventually! :D

Yes I do agree.

As for the zone variety (different theme within a single wide zone) Yoshi-P already stated that they are planning the redesign of Eorzea and already made the sketches and were at the level design phase and that each zones will have 2-3 themes associated with them and that supossedly they would be very unique and different as to act as a land mark.

Plus you can refer to the popular thread about the redesign of Eorzea in my sig, at the end Reinheart quoted the translated parts about what I just said.

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Originally Posted by Perrin_Aybarra

Yes I do agree.

As for the zone variety (different theme within a single wide zone) Yoshi-P already stated that they are planning the redesign of Eorzea and already made the sketches and were at the level design phase and that each zones will have 2-3 themes associated with them and that supossedly they would be very unique and different as to act as a land mark.

Plus you can refer to the popular thread about the redesign of Eorzea in my sig, at the end Reinheart quoted the translated parts about what I just said.

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I stated that he had touched on most of the issues I had posted about right above you bub. :P found out through this right here: http://www.mmorpg.com/gamelist.cfm/g...386519#4386519

I agree with everything you said, zone variety is a must and different stats on armour forcing people to mix and match items to get the best effects is exactly what is needed.

Thanks for that! I feel like the game would just benefit from an approach that greatly rewarded exploration. Getting to see unique new people, places, monsters, etc. I also feel like a unique system in which mobs in each zone reacted to each other in different ways would make the world feel more alive.

I agree, seeing mobs acting in different ways than just standing aorund waiting to be killed would make the game feel more organic. I would really like to see some mobs attacking each other, for instance if a marmot got too close to a mongrel the mongrel would get annoyed and attack it. Or roaming beatsmen acting the same as the players do fighting mobs or even walking around harvesting plants and fishing. Speaking of Armour I would even be happy with vanity armour so I could equip the armour I want for stats then have another set thats just for aesthetics.