One to Fifty, One Zone - Long OP

[Perrin_Aybarra]

We've all probably seen the leaked dungeon photos/vids floating around by now and it brings up an interesting thought. All of the dungeons (thus far) have just been re textured instances of prior areas of the game. SE has made minor cosmetic touch ups like adding large Coral trees to the La Noscea instances, lots of background overgrowth and misc. wooden structures in the Black Shroud instances, large broken eggs, pools of bright glowing liquid and ancient architecture in the Coerthas instances and glowing aether, flowing water and webs to the Thanalan Ant Lairs.

Richard, would you be so kind as to tell me where I can see those leaked photos/vids?

[Richard]

Richard, would you be so kind as to tell me where I can see those leaked photos/vids?

I wont post direct information on the forums as it's against their ToS but I can tell you just search around on FFXIVPRO for a few minutes. Or youtube for that matter.

[Ogun_Riastradh]

I absolutely agree with the OP and many of the points made here. And like Richard said, you can't just slap on some new textures or add a few trees/glowing puddles of dragon piss and call it new. I totally miss the exploration, the challenge, and the diversity of the new areas. That was part of your character skill progression, to earn that skill to survive the new areas. I recall the amazement and satisfaction to finally see what other people talked about in the new area, and this diversity brought new challenges. Each area had a group of mobs with different abilities and behavior. Not only did you have to make it to your camp or NM spawn point and fight your mob, you had to deal with the inherent risks of the area with all of the other mobs. You had to learn how and when other mobs aggro'd, you had to learn to use the layout of the area to your advantage. You had to work together as a group to get through, like the mazes of Castle Zvahl, all the pitfalls and deadends of Garlaige, the blocked doors and secret passages Temple of Uggalepih, and Sneaking/Invis around Yhoatar Jungle. This diversity of zone and mob was definitely rewarding and exciting to see, and it forced you to continue learn and improve.

[Richard]

In the Letter To The Producer IX, Yoshida outlined in the Monster/Field section that they would:

- Add Diversification of monster types in existing species
- Examine free-ranging enemy distribution
- Change defined territories and secure travel routes

It would be nice if we could have Bayohne or another Dev give us a little more specified information as to what they are working on. I would be happy if they were tied closely to what we're discussing here in this thread.

[Ruri]

I totally agree with OP that this game does not have nearly the same sense of exploration as FF11 did. In 14 you can basically stay in Uldah or whatever home city you are in and level up to 50 without ever leaving the zone. You can visit coerithas or mor dohna (probably spelled wrong) but there is no point other than killing a few NM's. I liked having to go to several different camps as you leveled up in 11.

[Draven]

@ Rich

Yeah, I should have a back up to that but I can't find it. I might be crazy but there's some half confession somewhere

Seems to me though that its possible for this to be accomplished but I do believe there are some big limitations otherwise they probably wouldn't have copy/pasted in the first place so much.

Most of all though the community here is painful to watch. So many huge expectations, above and beyond what SE tells its players, followed by the inevitable disappointment and unfortunate, unreasonable backlash to SE for not living up to their self-inflated expectations. It's a formula for more bad reputation than the game already has.

Point from me is, I want to hear more about HOW to make the game better and less complaints about how unworthy XIV is as the successor to XI. It took them YEARS to fix that game to be a more acceptable MMO, worth playing by more than just hardcore, dedicated FF/Squaresoft Fans. And I never ONCE heard anyone in game or on the forums people complaining about the lack of transition from zone to zone. (example again, Rolanberry Fields to Sauromugue Champaign) Complaints like that fill the minds of easily agitated people and create more expections that SE may never live up to. And ultimately, the whole things brings a more negative air in players minds to a game that is currently suffering already from a massive negative outlook and reputation.

The OP seems to be talking about progression through a variety of zone types and concern about 1-50 available in just one zone. Followed by people talking about changing the design of the zones dramatically which at that point I think is above what SE is capable of doing up to their expectations.

I still think the existing zones themselves will remain virtually the same(or atleast will for a long~ time) They may spread ranking content to the existing zones, but there aren't that many of them either. It wouldn't be long before people are calling again for more zones and more variety so I say forget zone redesigns, better to wait for more areas.

[Bigglesworth]

I agree with everything the OP has stated, but fixing the existing areas is just not going to happen. SE focus for the rest of the summer has already been outlined. They are first going to fix the battle system and other UI things. Once they have that done, I'm sure they will work on new areas like Ishgard etc.

[Richard]

I agree with everything the OP has stated, but fixing the existing areas is just not going to happen. SE focus for the rest of the summer has already been outlined. They are first going to fix the battle system and other UI things. Once they have that done, I'm sure they will work on new areas like Ishgard etc.

Why is the possibility completely thrown off the table at this time? Yohshida already said he doesn't like how The Black Shroud was designed and hinted to a possible revamp in the future. WoW did it 9 years after it released with Cataclysm. No one is expecting it to happen RIGHT NOW. What we do want and what we do expect is for SE to *eventually* fix what they messed up.

Ishgard has been in the works for a long time and to be perfectly honest its probably already finished. The shell of the city is done, all they need to do is add the coding for the inside. I know SE has a lot on their plates but its not completely impossible or out of the question.

[Ruri]

Remember trying to get through the Yuhtunga and Yhoator jungles for the first time? Even with a map it was a challange. Finally memorizing the path through was cool. In ff14 we get minimaps and outlined yellow roads to navigate us. A little too easy imo. Not saying get rid of mini maps but we need more zones that you actually need to explore to find the way through.

[Sigmakan]

In regards to separating each area of the zone into different level ranges. Isnt that how it is already?

Central Than 1-10
Easter Than 10-20
Western Than 20-30
Western Than(nophica) 30-40
Southern Than 40-50
Eastern Than(halatali) 40-50

They have the right idea, but having different level ranges like this isnt enough to make players feel like they are making any progress. Issue is that you see the same type of monsters over and over, as well as the same textures over and over. If each 'zone' of the large maps had more unique flavor to them as well as unique mobs it would definitely help.

However, I still dont think that will be enough. I think the best solution is to add more dungeons that are UNIQUE, not just reskins of other ones. Completely redoing the existing zone would be quite the task. I'm sure they can do it, but at the same time I'd rather see them add new zones completely.