Simplicity over complexity, time to change.

[Redemption]

Funny thing about FFXI in my 2003-2010 campaign, everyone was finding ways to make the game as convenient as possible. Even to the point that someone would climb up the mountain and drop down to a spot for an ENM, then we all die next to the cliff, BLM tractors and raises us. People rather sit in town and shout for an hour for a Crag teleport instead of just running there. People try to work any loop holes they could to get past the obvious inconveniences. I constantly hear people complain that they wish boats and airships had an option to instant teleport you there. "Hey guys, I just missed the airship, gotta wait 15 minutes before we can start EXP'ing." Its all opinion if people liked this or not, but MMO's have evolved over the years for better or worse to cater to both hardcore and casual, not one way or the other.

I would actually argue that was part of the intrigue of it all. The world was set, it had its conventions and people would be efficient within those rules to get their way. I played FFXI pretty much until june of this year from NA launch (with some on and off), so I know full well how people would act and get around and do things. You'll find thats the same anywhere in games but I still would say that it has an effect over making the instant travel the norm.

And yet the big problem of your argument is and will always be that you don't need to waste a player's time to enhance the world for them. There is literally nothing preventing you from going down the slow road, only your own problems with seeing others around you on the highway.

Its not the amount of time that matters really, and its true that you can enhance the world with elements that don't take time (like the above rain affecting clothes example) but they're different elements so the ones that do take time are still lacking in the end its still a different experience than what some are seeking. Im going to make a note here, I personally have not suggested anything as a way to solve my issues with ffxiv in this thread except altering itemization. Would a lot of ffxi's systems fit here? Quite possibly not, if they were they would likely need to be adjusted to fit into the systems that are already in the game. To explain, FFXIV is already a relatively small world and with how the world is built removing teleports in 'current' zones wouldnt likely help. If they had say, a large frontier map with danger and no teleports in the future that might be interesting but its a striking contrast to what already is. Suffice to say as far as FFXIV goes, any adjustment would need to be made carefully and adjusted to fit the native landscape (game systems).

Yeah, for the most part the effect was annoying people.

With each post you seem to simply be making yourself out to be a closed minded and rude individual. Can nobody have an opinion that is not your own? I have tried quite hard to make sure my statements are regarding my own and likely some similar minded people's opinions and not making general blanket statements intending to insult your opinion on what is a good game.