Zones ... hmmm

I noticed that this time the game enter different zones .. like XI "Loading"

I liked 1.0 more "In way of how large the area is without zoning"



what do you think?

1.0 still had zones, but in a slightly different manner. Whereas it had the scenario pre-loaded, all the active elements, from enemies to resource nodes, would only load after you had entered that zone.
It caused ghost enemies to suddenly pop up around you, it made talking to someone five steps away from you impossible in /say (it was very amusing, the first time I played I was trying to talk to a friend in Ul'Dah but we both happene to be JUST ON THE ZONELINE so we kept not being able to interact at all).

ARR will just have very obvious zones with transitions

As long as it doesn't affect the chat log, it doesn't bother me in the slightest! :)

I prefer zoning, it may be annoying, but i prefer this way more.

This gives a feeling of a classic rpg, and I like that.

Also zones allow the devs more freedom, and that would translate in better content.

They can put more content in a zone. the stress will be easier on the server this way I think.

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Originally Posted by Rak_Boy

I noticed that this time the game enter different zones .. like XI "Loading"

I liked 1.0 more



what do you think?

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Have you ever walked from Ul'dah to Gridana? Or Ul'dah to Mor Dhona? Or moved from any large zone to another? It has it too.

I prefer to have some real zones than what we had during 1.0 it was so bad to not be able to see people in your party during few seconds and mobs too.

And ok zones were big but not detailed/unique and had several copy/paste aspects. Thanks to the 2.0 it shouldn't be the case anymore or less :)

I like the new zones. Seem to be large enough and the zone loading takes around 3 seconds -.-'
Damn what am I going to do while it's loading?!

yes, when they say they want to add liike 1000 players in a single zone, thiis is the best method to do so.

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Originally Posted by Seirra_Lanzce

yes, when they say they want to add like 1000 players in a single zone, this is the best method to do so.

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They want to support 1000 players with 400+ battles going on AT THE SAME TIME in every zone. So depending on the server capacity it won't ever EVER lag except for global events like the final battle of 1.0

Zones are better, there's a reason pretty much all seamless world MMOs are generally bland or designed the same.

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Originally Posted by Elexia

Zones are better, there's a reason pretty much all seamless world MMOs are generally bland or designed the same.

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The continent of Northrend in WoW is one of the best things, scenery wise, that I've ever experienced.

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Originally Posted by Elexia

Zones are better, there's a reason pretty much all seamless world MMOs are generally bland or designed the same.

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Sorry to say this but only FFXIV's seamless world MMO is bland.

Visible zones with loading screens are better than invisible zones with surprise mobs killing you before you can even see them.

And a zillion times better than dealing with copy-paste landscapes just to allow "seamless" zones.

In 1.0 you still traveled between zones, it was just far worse. Instead of dealing with a 2 second loading screen, you had long tunnels everywhere. They were awful and made areas way bigger than they needed to be for absolutely no reason.

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Originally Posted by Ruisu

Have you ever walked from Ul'dah to Gridana? Or Ul'dah to Mor Dhona? Or moved from any large zone to another? It has it too.

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I did ... how many times do u walk between these areas?

I demand a chocobo on my loading screen.

That is all.

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Originally Posted by Phe

I demand a chocobo on my loading screen.

That is all.

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I actually like that the name of the zone appears in the loading screen. A lot.

Love the new zones. Everything we've seen scenery wise looks leaps and bounds better.

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Originally Posted by Rak_Boy

I did ... how many times do u walk between these areas?

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Another question. Did you ride with chocobo from camp bearded rock to camp iron lake? And did you see on the way many memorable landscapes besides green grass and cliffs?


And 1.0 has zones, too. Invisible zones. During my traveling to a aetheryte in black shroud I crossed a invisible zone line. The way seemed to be clear, 5 second laters lv 70 mobs were in front and behind me. In the second try I just ride until the end of the way, let the mobs behind me before they were loaded.

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Originally Posted by Rak_Boy

I noticed that this time the game enter different zones .. like XI "Loading"

I liked 1.0 more



what do you think?

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It's needed to have a "lighter world". And as I saw it seems extremely fast, so I really don't care, I'm happy for my GPUs...

1.0 still had zones so I don't understand your complaint. The loading screens on ARR seem super fast so I think its better than 1.0.

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Originally Posted by Rak_Boy

I did ... how many times do u walk between these areas?

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Before or after Hamlet Defense? I used to run through quite often, especially when doing the AF quests for all of my jobs.

Regardless, there are still loading zones, and those are horrid. The loading in ARR looks fairly quick and tolerable. I'd much rather have that, and better zone transitioning as well, which ARR looks like it'll be doing.

I'll take zone lines over the boring ass copypasta world in 1.0 any day of the week. Sure, FFXIV might have been the only game to have such a boring seamless world but the other games also aren't the graphical powerhouses that FFXIV/FFXIV: ARR are. I much prefer XI style zones over 1.0 invisible zones in that dull, bland world.

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Originally Posted by Felis

Another question. Did you ride with chocobo from camp bearded rock to camp iron lake? And did you see on the way many memorable landscapes besides green grass and cliffs?


And 1.0 has zones, too. Invisible zones. During my traveling to a aetheryte in black shroud I crossed a invisible zone line. The way seemed to be clear, 5 second laters lv 70 mobs were in front and behind me. In the second try I just ride until the end of the way, let the mobs behind me before they were loaded.

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I did the traveling before chocobo and company thing

Zones are designed to allow for greater detail and players (its not impossible to do this zoneless but it would take more time to design and would be less efficient use of their money and weak computers - at least that's what I think they where thinking).

All I hope for is that they make some clever system for airships XD overworld or something lol

While the a large open world was nice in WoW, I'm perfectly fine with zones.

I was a little depressed at this also, however I see the benefits now.

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Originally Posted by Rak_Boy

I noticed that this time the game enter different zones .. like XI "Loading"

I liked 1.0 more



what do you think?

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http://i2.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/...upid_posts.gif

Having smaller zones allows you to put more detail in each one of them rather than the copy-paste world of 1.0. Not saying you can't have huge 1.0 zones that's not copy paste but if this is the best option over that I take it any day of the week.

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Originally Posted by Dannythm

The continent of Northrend in WoW is one of the best things, scenery wise, that I've ever experienced.

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I did much enjoy Northrend. However, one thing that always strikes me in World of Warcraft is how 'sudden' the change is - from dark spooky forests of Duskwood, to suddenly the jungles of Stranglethorn. If they had 'zones' that you actually loaded into, it makes you feel like you have travelled more distance and sorts many of those oddities.

They have got much better at it lately, but often the very obvious boundaries can be a bit of an immersion breaker - more so than loading up a new are would be!

Of course, both work well, just depends how they are done. Being an old time gamer, I've always been a fan of zoning - it gives the feeling of entering into an exciting, seperate area, rather than just happening to wander into it all of a sudden.

Good things they did with zoning...

Adding zone markers, those little blue dots. So much better than a sudden unexpected zone.

Map name display. Love the fact we now know where we are going. It will make it easier for new players to learn what zones are where and not be so confused as to where they are

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Originally Posted by Rak_Boy

I noticed that this time the game enter different zones .. like XI "Loading"

I liked 1.0 more "In way of how large the area is without zoning"



what do you think?

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zones were announced way back in the time before time. its no surprise to me. Id rather not have to many zones within the city but it seems to be needed to to distribute the player load in potentially overloaded area.

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Originally Posted by MicahZerrshia

Good things they did with zoning...

Adding zone markers, those little blue dots. So much better than a sudden unexpected zone.

Map name display. Love the fact we now know where we are going. It will make it easier for new players to learn what zones are where and not be so confused as to where they are

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i have a feeling the blue dots wont make it to final version, no one likes them

Based on the alpha videos, the zone loads were basically just a quick title flash, and then the zone is loaded. It wasn't really a loading screen per se, it was just barely long enough to tell you "Hey! You're entering this district of Gridania! Cool beans!" I think it looks pretty snazzy myself, and it doesn't seem like it'll turn into thumb-twiddling time since it's so fast! If it ends up helping the server loads, I'll support it :)

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Originally Posted by syntaxlies

no one likes them

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:( I like them.

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Originally Posted by Mjollnir

:( I like them.

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personally id like to see zone transitions on mini map only, but its such i trivial thing to me i really dont care.

So Zoning= 2-5 secs of waiting... not sure what the issue is here. Were getting a better "Unique" world to look at "because" of zones.

Zones allow for more variety and are also much easier to manage technically.

As much as I LOVED the open areas in 1.0 (I'll never forget the first time I explored Coerthas... Just beautiful) gameplay and enjoyment wise changing to zones is probably for the best.

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Originally Posted by Dannythm

They want to support 1000 players with 400+ battles going on AT THE SAME TIME in every zone. So depending on the server capacity it won't ever EVER lag except for global events like the final battle of 1.0

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Woah when was this ever said? Most I heard was that the servers grew unstable at 800 players in alpha and are planing to make 800 players in one zone stable. What's this 400+ battles across multiple zones? Like as in an event or they just mean the servers being able to handle 400 players fighting here and there randomly across the zone?