The zones we have now are to small.

[KamikazeMan]

Ever been to the Sylphlands? Can't wait for Ramuh.

There are a lot of safe zones there, actually.

[Razzle]

Both 1.0 and 2.0 maps have flaws, both for the same reason - PS3.

1.0 - copy paste so it can work on PS3.
2.0 - tiny zones so it can work on PS3.

Don't wanna start any console wars but the fact stands is that consoles do (or did during development) hold back the game at the end of the day...

[StarMarmot]

They're small, sure. Think it would play out nicely though if they simply added a few side zones here and there that doesn't necessarily have to have a town, a teleporting crystal and 20 quests. Just areas with monsters and scenery that otherwise doesn't lead anywhere to flesh out all the corridors some.

[Amyas]

There are a lot of safe zones there, actually.

Sure, but that's no fun. Go there around 45 or so to finish up your hunt log, that makes it extra fun :3

[Jynx]

*Stares at you funny*
Exploration is it's own reason. I don't understand this concept that they have to be lead by the nose to explore something, then be given a tasty biskit for doing what they were told to do. I happen to have more self-motivation than a canine, thank you.

And yes, there are dangerous areas.

Why thank you for being so condescending, always know I've struck a nerve when people lose the abillity to have civil conversation!

Exploration does not have it's own reason, it's not difficult to do, there is no reward (Slight lie exploring the realm achievments are nice), the developers take 0 effort to reward people who do explore I don't mean give us items or experience but reward us with more than a lifeless zone with a handfull of monsters floating around aimlessly. Quests or no quests much of the world is utterly devoid of lore leaving it up to you to just assume what's going on (Please don't try and school me on this if you look at my history you would know I am a extreme advent of open world content and ingame lore)

Once you hit level 50 unless you are utterly incapable of looking at your map provided to you for walking into a square you have 0 chance to die, engage 12 mobs that do minor damage to you even at their highest level? start walking(Or sprint if your motivated enough to avoid danger...) and you will more often than not be outside their short. short leashes within moments that's also indicating you have 0 abillity to fight back and survive outside walking away wich everyone does. Even the most fresh 50 character can take on up to 4 level 50 enemies with 0 consequence more if they are actually trying to fight.

While you continue to think of witty ways to insult me I'll be thinking of ways to make open world exploration more exciting than just having a yellow rock in a cave. Christ the community has a great sense of adventure I remember when they implemented the guardian symbols in 1.0 (Found out later to be part of a quest that lead you by the hand unfortunatly) it was a mad race to see who could find the location of all 12 stones, most of them existed in "Real" dangerous areas where your abillity to navigate the land while avoiding monsters making it something few could manage. It was great to have the community working together to find these stones try and puzzle what they were for, it was disheartening that when the quest to find them was implemented to find them for the story it was just (!) marks on your map.

Giving us reason to explore the world would have been a great idea, the big problem the game has is it rarely let's the community solve problems for itself it instead leads us by the hand or places walls infront of our progression. They work harder at getting us to do thing their way at their pace rather than finding ways to entertain us paying customers. It's what happens when you have a plan in mind and decide you have zero room for deviation to see what the players actually want.

I could go on but it would go beyond mere exploration purposes, I'll just restate my starting point.

"I'm all for bigger grander zones, but they need to be more than a staging point for quests and Fates"

I await your next condescending remark with bated breath.

[Kiayin]

1. The zones are small.
2. There are outposts you can either teleport to or run to with a chocobo every 20 meters (longest it could ever take you to run from one outpost to the next is 1 minute). This makes the zones feel even smaller.
3. There are invisible walls everywhere.
4. No areas/points of interest to explore that aren't pointed out to you with a big icon somewhere [ aside from a handful ].

I'm not crazy about it either and I do hope the next zones will be more wild! To be honest, the scale of the world just feels wrong right now. The Great Noble Houses of Ishgard... all standing 20 seconds one from the other... on foot. I would have expected an area as big as the current Coerthas for EACH of them. ><

[Naunet]

I will continue to maintain that the size of the zones is not the problem, it's how each zone is made up of a series of areas connected by narrow choke points and hemmed in by an overabundance of invisible walls. I really, really don't like it. We could easily have the same zones we have now, just opened up, and the game would run perfectly fine. The zones should have borders like the yellow line:

[BlueMage]

I will continue to maintain that the size of the zones is not the problem, it's how each zone is made up of a series of areas connected by narrow choke points and hemmed in by an overabundance of invisible walls. I really, really don't like it. We could easily have the same zones we have now, just opened up, and the game would run perfectly fine. The zones should have borders like the yellow line:

I always thought it would have been cool if the Sagoli desert was an entire zone (instead of just a small section of a zone), and had no map. Would feel big, the kind of place you get lost in, like, you know, a desert.

[Mysteltain]

I think it's more an issue of verticality than map size. You can make your maps as large as you please, but at the end of the day if it's overall design is flat, then you're not properly utilizing all of the space you have to work with. Coerthas Central Highlands does this better than any other map in the game, although it could certainly be expanded upon. The caves connecting the two fissures at Witchdrop is a perfect example of this, and the caves on the east side of the map, as well, since you can only enter from one side (if memory serves), and then drop down from the other end. Then you've got the climb at Snowcloak, the chasm at Whitebrim, and the crater at the Boulder Downs. Rather than make use of what's at eye level, you can actually move up and down at certain points on the map to either get a better vantage, fight different monsters, or fulfill a quest (although that last one is standard fare, no offense, devs!).

Could you imagine jumping into the pit outside of Buscaroon's Druthers to enter the Gelmorra ruins, running through a maze of tunnels and the ruins of a forgotten city, until you come out at the North Shroud? Or falling through a sandpit in the Sagolii Desert, entering a vast cavern filled with high level monsters and environmental hazards, and journeying through that until you come out at Northern Thanalan? I'd love to see implementation of areas like this in the game because it would really add to the exploration.

[KenzieLynch]

Silly people,

2.0 was scaled back to work on console, yes, but also on low end PC's.