One to Fifty, One Zone - Long OP

[EdenArchangel]

I like to think that we can move away from guildleves in the future, keeping it as a 'starter' thing in starter zones, to give the casual players the boost they need. The novelty is obviously over after the first time doing a leve, and I frown looking at the same set of 7 constantly.

I want the future to look and be much more open in choices, looking through every zone to find the places you want to level against your favorite mobs and finding the best places to rank.

Guildleves force the mentality that 'this is how we are supposed to rank,' and that guildleves are the focus of the game.

Summary: Guildleves tend to go against what Final Fantasy is to me. I feel tethered down to the same camps with the same quests.

[Siobu]

I'm assuming the map will open up a couple more cities(...)

Very true, that certainly would be grounds for new cities, or towns. I welcome many stops along the way! Eden, I understand your feelings and agree with you as well.

As others have said, I suppose this would be a situation where the issue of compromise and creative handling comes to play.


To late arrivals: This thread calls for a re-design and rebirth of Eorzea's lands, to create milestones and a sense of adventure, by taking us from our city walls to places far away. Diverse and unique environments. With our current world, there is no room at all for expansion or new experiences. With multiple zones with enemies ranging from 1 to 99, what's in our future?

Share your thoughts here about the state of our world map, and help us get the attention of the reps tomorrow.

[Chrees]

I'm assuming the map will open up a couple more cities, Ishgard is the obvious one and I have no idea what Ala Mhigo is like but perhaps another region up North might have a city or two as well. However this said, that is the reason Anima was implemented because we will most likely be running back to the home cities for leves every once in a while but I don't think its that bad, I think once Ishgard opens up and we can pick up leves there its the same as leaving say San'Doria for Jeuno and staying in a Jeuno for a long long looong time.

Aside from Ishgard and Ala Mhigo, there's also the city of Sharlavan to the northwest. Ala Mhigo is located in the zone Gyn Abania, Sharlavan is in Dravania, and also Xelphatol to the northeast, Paglth'an to the southeast and O'Ghomoro, which is north of La Noscea on the island of Vylbrand. Then there are also the smaller islands of Theueari, Mazlava and The Cieldales.

So really, we've only seen about half of Eorzea. But even then, if these new zones offer the same variety—or lack thereof—as the existing ones, I don't think they'll be very interesting for too much longer after they're released.

[Siobu]

So really, we've only seen about half of Eorzea. But even then, if these new zones offer the same variety—or lack thereof—as the existing ones, I don't think they'll be very interesting for too much longer after they're released.

Precisely, Chrees.

What purpose could they serve, if each zone only added another bloated map, with no distinct level range or purpose? And I worry a bit, because it would not be appropriate to only add these missing areas the right way (with paths for progression, unique environments).

Because our current zones shouldn't be left behind the way they are, for 'new' zones. These areas deserve a second chance. This world is important to me. Thanalan, La Noscea, the Black Shroud, Coerthas...

What's in store for our world, Square Enix? Will we have a true adventure from 1 to 50?

Thanks everyone, for keeping this thread alive through the long weekend, and for almost an entire *week*! Let's make sure we're not ignored tomorrow.

[Rane]

I'll reiterate again that I don't like having mobs from rank 1 through 99 in starting zones. It feels like the adventure is over before it has even started. But I wanted to mention something about the current "fade to black" zone changes that are present in the game, and what they say about the world. I'm referring to the non-seamless transition when moving between Thanalan and the Shroud, Coerthas and Mor Dhona, etc.

Yesterday I decided to take a run around various parts of the world. Exploring the world is one of my favorite things to do in an MMO, and while Final Fantasy XIV's world at present lacks diverse areas with distinct local identities, I wanted take a little trip. I wandered around the southern Shroud into Thanalan and back. Then I teleported to Camp Bentbranch and ran from there over to Camp Crimson Bark and all the way into Mor Dhona. Once in Mor Dhona I went clockwise to Camp Brittlebark, around to Camp Revenant's Toll, and then into Coerthas, where I finally logged off. Yes, I realize that my choice of path was insane; I did it just for kicks, dying several times.

So, on to the point: I was thinking about the "fade to black" zone lines as I ran across several of them yesterday. Unlike FFXI, the next zone starts loading before you reach the "zone line". There's a certain point that the game starts to "zone" you before you actually hit the little arrow on your mini-map. If you pass this invisible point you will zone no matter what, it seems. You can stop in your tracks and wait for it to happen, or you can continue running toward the "zone arrow" on your mini-map. You can even be in the middle of a battle: I tried pulling a couple of the marmots in Thanalan on the zone to the Shroud and zoned automatically while I was fighting. I started the zone process when I moved in to fight the marmots, and when the game was ready it faded to black and zoned me before I defeated them :P I also tried running as fast as I could toward the zone lines a couple of times. Possibly due to lag, I was able to get to the arrow on the mini-map twice before the screen faded to black. There is actually an invisible wall there that doesn't show up on the map, so my character kind of did the moonwalk for a couple of seconds, running in place until the black load screen finally triggered. The loading screen itself is very short: only a couple of seconds. It seems a lot faster than in FFXI, probably because the next zone is already loading in the background before any fade to black occurs.

That made me think: I wonder if the loading screen was even a necessity. Perhaps they could have had the forest run smack into the desert in a little loading passageway. However, since that would look strange, and designing a transition area would have been a lot of work, they created a fade-to-black. It could also be that they designed the five regions completely separately and just pieced them together at the last minute using the fade-to-black loads. It seems like the five regions function like lego blocks, which the designers sort of stuck together at the end. They may have considered having more areas, such as something between Thanalan and the Shroud, but they didn't have the development time to do it.

I'm not arguing against loading screens in this post: while I'd prefer a seamless and diverse world, I'd gladly sacrifice seamlessness in favor of diversity. But I do think that FFXIV's current fade-to-black loads seem a little too convenient, like there wasn't enough of a plan for how the world should fit together. Even the map shows a wall a little past the zone arrows. There isn't an open passageway indicating that the zone connects with something else (like in FFXI maps); the arrow says "zone", but the map says "dead end, actually". I guess they just didn't want to have to edit the map when they added new zones.

I apologize for the meandering nature of this post. My point is that it feels like the game was developed without an overarching vision for the world and how it should fit together. As a result, the current world lacks a feeling of cohesion. I think that's one reason why my in-game experience yesterday felt like I was crossing between separate "modules" rather than walking around a continent.

This problem could be solved by adopting ideas presented elsewhere in this thread. A major map redesign would be best, resulting in distinct areas that flow together in a natural progression (with or without load screens). The second-best option would be to make existing sub-zones much more distinct. In such a case I think it would still be necessary to better "sell" the fact that the larger areas connect together, such as more trees near a zone into the Shroud.

Whatever changes are made to Eorzea in the future, they need to emphasize that this is a unified world. As you leave town and move from zone to zone you can feel yourself striking out into the world, getting farther and farther from home. That's when "running through a zone" starts to feel more like "embarking on a journey".

[AtryxEtair]

The Garlean Empire hasn't invaded the three starter cities has it? I think if the plan to create a more lively/dangerous/epic(I know cliche, sorry) tone or sense to Eorzea is this invasion or impending one then the zones would only make sense to be altered for the most part. Garlean experiments or attack strategies could wind up dis-shoveling and refacing the current zones in terms of mobs, monuments, and possibly(hopefully) geography. I don't actually think this will be the cause. I'm just pointing out how easy this can be to work into lore. If just one guy can do this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVs4p...embedded#at=19

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-m31...el_video_title

Then I'm not sure what the big deal would be, especially if they already have a starting template they can just improve upon. I realize the coding and implementation would add loads of time to the process...but still.

[Chrees]

AtryxEtair, I'd love to see the videos you tried to post, but the links are broken!

[Carzilla]

So I went into casiopea hollow to do a behest, the place looks like the bottom of a fish tank which is cool but when I get to the final enemy of the behest i find 3 aldgoats. Cman sick contradiction. starburst anyone lol

[giftforce]

People are kind of getting carried away here.

I can see them making adjustments to the camps and relevant guildleve levels... but redesigning the zones or anything to that effect is totally infeasible for SE.

[Mack]

The Garlean Empire hasn't invaded the three starter cities has it? I think if the plan to create a more lively/dangerous/epic(I know cliche, sorry) tone or sense to Eorzea is this invasion or impending one then the zones would only make sense to be altered for the most part. Garlean experiments or attack strategies could wind up dis-shoveling and refacing the current zones in terms of mobs, monuments, and possibly(hopefully) geography. I don't actually think this will be the cause. I'm just pointing out how easy this can be to work into lore. If just one guy can do this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVs4p...embedded#at=19

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-m31...el_video_title

Then I'm not sure what the big deal would be, especially if they already have a starting template they can just improve upon. I realize the coding and implementation would add loads of time to the process...but still.

They can add it into lore but that alone requires a lot of work, I would be just as happy (like I've said before already) if I patch up my game one day, log in, and everything is changed.