One to Fifty, One Zone - Long OP

[Sigmakan]

Zio, are you able to add the dev tag to this thread? Or is there a similar thread in the past that covers the same content that already received attention?

Hello! I honestly am not sure if I can make any changes now. I am new to posting here. The only options I see are to close or delete. If anyone knows a way, I would be happy to oblige, though!

As far as another thread, I'm not sure. I think there was one regarding mainly 'Copy-Paste' a while back, but I wanted to discuss something a little different so I made my own. (Edit: If you mean a dev comment, then I'm not sure!)

You can add Dev tags to the very bottom of the page. Adding them to the title actually doesnt do anything to 'tag' the topic. I'm just not sure which dev tag is most appropriate.

[Sigmakan]

Spot on and i think this is what the hopes and desires of this discussion is about. Fix it sooner than later because the latter will be 100% harder. We need Adventures in Eorzea not Bandaids in Eorzea :P

I think they can make the current areas work with a little bit of love, and then make future zones more unique and less sprawling. Couple that with proper mob rank progression and quest content for each area and I think we'll be all set!

[EdenArchangel]

I think they can make the current areas work with a little bit of love, and then make future zones more unique and less sprawling. Couple that with proper mob rank progression and quest content for each area and I think we'll be all set!

I've been everywhere, and I'll be honest -- the rank 70+ areas are pathetic, haha.

Virtually identical areas continued...
The Isles of Umbra has a total of... 4 mob types and covers half the area of bearded rock?
Zan'rak is the same as broken water, just more narrow cliffs and drakes.
Absolutely nothing worth a 'goal' of making it there.

But, obviously the higher areas were the most rushed. I think we need to nip it in the bud, and not have current players or new players be forced to 'suffer' through what the new team can fix before caps rise. ^^


Oh, and here's a thought -- I don't recall concerns about the current zones being in any of the previous player polls. We must prioritize getting everyone's attention, and thus this post!

[Veasna]

I agree with OP. I too hope for more diversity. Please SE invest in this, i know atleast 1 person who stopped playing a long time ago due to this issue, he just couldnt cope with levelling up his char in the same zone from 1 to 50.

[Moiren]

While I find this thread is made of gold and almost everything said is 100% right for me, there's one little thing I have to say (dont know if it's already been said, still have to finish to read everything!)

Regarding the 1-50-in-one-zone problem: while I totally dont like the fact you can grind 1-50 in the same zone, I have also to say I find stupid that enemy level have to be strictly related to the zone. I mean, it's stupid if in one area you can only find, for example, 1-15 and in other areas just 15-25 like almost all FFXI zones.

But, actually, FFXIV managed to give this concept a very bad shape. So, what could be a solution?
Simple. Remember of FFXII, the first outside zone... with simple low level enemies but 1 deadly t-rex? (It even made me said: even if it doesnt drop a shit, when I'll be high level I'm gonna kill it!). Even in FFVIII outside Balamb Garden, if I remember well there was a T-Rex somewhere in a lil forest; it was very high for low levels characters. So, basically: variety is good, but only in a "good" way. Give the areas enemies of 1-50, other areas 20-45. Why not? But focus on 1 level range per zone (max 10, like 15-25), BUT adding some not-grindable (translation: only a few and/or long respawn time and/or very far between each other) higher/lower mobs.

Another solution (that can be added to first one in a second moment) would be... still focus on 1 level range (like 35-45) and make all enemies of that area 35-45. BUT! But enemies can grow their level if left unclaimed, but respawn with their proper level. And since we know, usually, in a place (think Qufim, Valkurm, etc) not every spot is that good to grind... voilà! We have enemy rank variations.


Regarding how FFXIV areas are now: they're nice to see. To see. Dot. Not to explore, to travel, to PLAY. They're too big, too "open" (I like open-feeling wide areas, but not when every area is). Think about Jugner Forest, that's a good example of a very nice to travel area. Then, instead, think to... the areas outside Jeuno (Sauro, Batallia and... and... oh, right, Rolanberry!). Those 3 are the ones that remind me of areas in FFXIV, but: they're 1000 times smaller, are mainly transition areas (to go, for example, in Jeuno itself or Garlaige)

PS: I'm not English so please dont be mean if I didnt write something correctly :V

[Alzelia]

I have never seen a topic in these forums where everybody agrees so much!

I have never seen a topic in these forums that I agree with so much!

Please fix this SE!!

[Siobu]

Thank you Sigmakan, I see what you mean.

I searched through the tag section but unfortunately am not sure if any are appropriate as others have said. Even if we tag it to be related to frontier hubs, which might be the only applicable tag, the hubs themselves are a bandaid and not addressing the core issue at hand.

The current camps spread out across one zone, to level us from one to fifty, does not give us any sense of accomplishment, adventure, or achievement.

If we think of it like a situation in a cartoon: One cartoon character hands another a painting. Upon complaining that the painting needs a lot of work, more life, a composition... the painter takes out a crayon and scratches some trees on the canvas.

In a way, that is a crude example of how the frontier hubs might come across to some. We want to travel beyond these areas, but there's no reason to do so. I don't believe adding more hubs/camps to the existing areas will solve the issue. It's completely missing the issue.

I'm never one to turn down content, but it may be denying us expansion and the possibilities beyond our current areas. In a way, it's locking us even firmer into what we have.

Thank you all for your continued feedback. I hope my posts continue to trigger your own thoughts and ideas.

[Tezz_Xivectro]

My problem is that all the zones look the same inside of the same region. Thanalan is a group of different zones but they all look so similar that most people don't notice. SE, add some diversity! Get rid of the crazy high lvl monsters for now if you need to make room. IDC!

[Alzelia]

The devs would have to be blind to miss this one, dev tag or not

I can understand how making each zone unique would take a lot of time and effort, the level of detail they put into things like the cities is incredible, and I'm sure it would take a lot of time to do this several more times over.

I'm almost certain that they are going to do something about this issue, if they could just let us know that they are, an enormous amount of people would be happy. I hope this is the big priority after the battle and job system.

EDIT: 99 likes on the first post! don't forget to like it!

[Mack]

I feel like posting some more in this topic so it can act like a stikied topic.