One to Fifty, One Zone - Long OP

[Richard]

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.

You're answering almost all of your questions by yourself...I don't really understand why you're still posting the same thing over and over again. XI had a rough start in Japan. RoZ/CoP were it's golden years and ever since WoTG it has made the slow downward trend towards the casual gamers. Is this a problem? No it's not. For a marketing standpoint it was giving SE a broader market.

No one complained about transitioning in XI because the zones were so well orchestrated that there were no problems! That has been said here at least 10 times. The Exploration in XI was 100x better and they need to go back to their roots in that sense. At least 5 or 6 people on this thread have posted IDEAS and constructive points about how we can make this happen. No one is blindly complaining about XIV in this thread which is why I hope this thread explodes outside the norm of this community. In regards to people always want want want wanting zones to be fixed: If SE does it right the first time (like XI) people won't beg for new stuff.

[Sigmakan]

You're answering almost all of your questions by yourself...I don't really understand why you're still posting the same thing over and over again. XI had a rough start in Japan. RoZ/CoP were it's golden years and ever since WoTG it has made the slow downward trend towards the casual gamers. Is this a problem? No it's not. For a marketing standpoint it was giving SE a broader market.

No one complained about transitioning in XI because the zones were so well orchestrated that there were no problems! That has been said here at least 10 times. The Exploration in XI was 100x better and they need to go back to their roots in that sense. At least 5 or 6 people on this thread have posted IDEAS and constructive points about how we can make this happen. No one is blindly complaining about XIV in this thread which is why I hope this thread explodes outside the norm of this community. In regards to people always want want want wanting zones to be fixed: If SE does it right the first time (like XI) people won't beg for new stuff.

I know some people may disagree, but having the maps already 100% revealed really ruins some of the exploration. I miss hunting down maps :/

[Richard]

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.

There are R55-59 mobs right outside of the city walls and R70-99 mobs where all of the R50-60 mobs should be populating. You can literally choose 1 area in the game and find a 30-40 level range of mobs for no real reason. Do they serve a purpose and help you in your progression? No.

Outside of NMs, which should range from mid-high level anyways, each of these zones/subzones needs to be fixed to focus on moving from the new adventurer to the world saving hero.

[Richard]

I know some people may disagree, but having the maps already 100% revealed really ruins some of the exploration. I miss hunting down maps :/

100% agree with this even though it was a PITA lol! I loved this about XI.

[Sigmakan]

There are R55-59 mobs right outside of the city walls and R70-99 mobs where all of the R50-60 mobs should be populating. You can literally choose 1 area in the game and find a 30-40 level range of mobs for no real reason. Do they serve a purpose and help you in your progression? No.

Outside of NMs, which should range from mid-high level anyways, each of these zones/subzones needs to be fixed to focus on moving from the new adventurer to the world saving hero.

What else are they going to put there instead of the high level mobs? More low level mobs. Seems like they made the maps TOO big and just trying to fill up parts of the maps with filler mobs.

I definitely think SE is aware of how these large maps are creating all sorts of game design issues, and in the future I suspect we'll see smaller maps.

Here's a question for discussion. Since Mor Dhona and Coerthas are so unique, why dont we see more players in those zone if we all love the 'sense of progression' so much?

[AdvancedWind]

They just need to change the overall appearance of the different areas already in game; technically, each and every area around a certain aether is supposed to be a "zone". You can say that around Bloodshore is the rank 20 "zone" while Cactus Basin is the 60 zone.

Yes, bloodshore is in the same "hub" area as Cedarwood (La Noscea) despite they being of dif levels, but they are still, technically, dif zones. There's even the 'server tunnel' someone else mentioned between them.

The problem here is that they both look exactly the same, when even the lore and npcs say they do not. In fact, each and every area has a few defining features that make them 'unique' (Ex: Treespeak has those sparkling trees, Camp Iron Lake has...well, the lake, etc).

What SE has to do, however, is to make this uniqueness stand out and not be a simply ("Hey, look! Sparkling trees! [but everything else looks exactly the same as everywhere else in the Black Shroud, ooopsie]"). Change around the overal look around each camp, and it won't matter that much that the R60s are killing stuff right east of Uldah and very close to the rank 1 area, if each of those areas actually looks different from the rest of Thanalan.

[Richard]

What else are they going to put there instead of the high level mobs? More low level mobs. Seems like they made the maps TOO big and just trying to fill up parts of the maps with filler mobs.

I definitely think SE is aware of how these large maps are creating all sorts of game design issues, and in the future I suspect we'll see smaller maps.

Here's a question for discussion. Since Mor Dhona and Coerthas are so unique, why dont we see more players in those zone if we all love the 'sense of progression' so much?

First off you don't add more low level mobs you redo the entire mob placement throughout the zone. Completely change it. SE has done this in patches before and moved around mob densities and spawn locations. Put mobs where mobs make sense.

Secondly no one goes to mor dhona or coerthas because a) there are a limited amount of quests/sidequests for those areas b) no leves for these areas and c) you can level 1-50 in Thanalan. At the moment they might as well just call Eorzea "Thanalan".

[Kennedy]

I wish the devs would look into this matter, seriously, with all due respect, in XI I could stand anywhere and it would be a beautiful scene where I would take a picture of, in thanalan you wouldn't even want to look up to the sky, there are barely any stars, scene or whatever. It's all copy, paste, copy paste. In XI you could spend almost 2 hours running into every single home and jail cell in SandOria with all the NPC's crowding everywhere it felt lively.

Everytime in XI when I traveled, I had something to look forward to, such as seeing new bestiaries, environment and just the simple dedication SE put into the game. In XIV I can't even recognize anything or remember where I am. Simply, there are a lot of flaws. If this game starts charging monthly fees, I'm definitely out unless something is done about it.

[Kafeen]

I know some people may disagree, but having the maps already 100% revealed really ruins some of the exploration. I miss hunting down maps :/

Yeah, I would have liked to have seen the maps unveil as you explore the area.

[Sigmakan]

First off you don't add more low level mobs you redo the entire mob placement throughout the zone. Completely change it. SE has done this in patches before and moved around mob densities and spawn locations. Put mobs where mobs make sense.

Secondly no one goes to mor dhona or coerthas because a) there are a limited amount of quests/sidequests for those areas b) no leves for these areas and c) you can level 1-50 in Thanalan. At the moment they might as well just call Eorzea "Thanalan".

Agree with your second point, and this issue is just as important as the on brought up by the OP. No one is going to go to these new diverse areas if its easier to level up in the bland areas. This really needs to be addressed. Both Mor Dhona and Coerthas are great zones, but there really is no reason to go there.

I think ideally the starting areas would eventually 'cap' at R40 instead of going all the way to 90. But then you have this huge area with a ton of the same level mobs. This may actually be ok, especially if normal sp-parties (non behest) become more ppoular.