Why did they changed this from version 1.0 ?

[Kiayin]

How are the smaller, instanced zones still not repetitious? They all look similar besides a few off-shoot generic desert areas...etc

Eh.. that's one of the things I truly appreciate about ARR. The consistency of the areas. I always found it pretty odd to have a tropic jungle right next to an Inuit area right next to a bog right next to a desert. The world is very small right now -given time, as it gets larger and they open up new zones, it should offer the variety you seek. Forcing variety where it doesn't belong is not the answer in my opinion, the world of ARR wasn't built with that kind of climate and terrain changes in mind. That being said, I do believe we'll get to see zones like the underground ruins in the Shroud, sooner or later!

The zones in 1.0 felt melancholic and wild - but 2.0's design is much more detailed and varied. Eorzea has pretty much undergone urbanization. I do hope that as we get away from civilization the design team will be able to reproduce that kind of feeling.

[Magis]

Eh.. that's one of the things I truly appreciate about ARR. The consistency of the areas. I always found it pretty odd to have a tropic jungle right next to an Inuit area right next to a bog right next to a desert. The world is very small right now -given time, as it gets larger and they open up new zones, it should offer the variety you seek. Forcing variety where it doesn't belong is not the answer in my opinion, the world of ARR wasn't built with that kind of climate and terrain changes in mind. That being said, I do believe we'll get to see zones like the underground ruins in the Shroud, sooner or later!

The division between Coerthas and North Black Shroud is janky. It goes from forest to all of a sudden snowy mountains. Made more sense when Coerthas was not snowy, but that's what we have now.

[Kiayin]

The division between Coerthas and North Black Shroud is janky. It goes from forest to all of a sudden snowy mountains. Made more sense when Coerthas was not snowy, but that's what we have now.

That's because we currently only have the middle zone of Coerthas, I believe. They're not contiguous. ^^

[Magis]

That's because we currently only have the middle zone of Coerthas, I believe. They're not contiguous. ^^

Figured. It's surprising how little Coerthas changed (also it's probably the biggest of the zones) compared to everything else. That map helps a lot, I couldn't wrap my head around where the hell Mor Dhona sat, since North Thanalan was separated by 1 zone to Coerthas while North Black Shroud was right beside it.

[Felis]

The division between Coerthas and North Black Shroud is janky. It goes from forest to all of a sudden snowy mountains. Made more sense when Coerthas was not snowy, but that's what we have now.

Maybe because the devs skipped central lowlands. For now we have only the central highlands.
I hope they put later more zones to Coerthas and the south side of Mor Dhona ingame.