What is the appeal of open world content?

[Fendred]

Open world is an escape from the highly structured play of dungeons. It allows for both slower play styles and chaotic play styles to be accommodated. It is content that promises you the ultimate flexibility in dropping in and out of things, where instanced dungeons are fixed in their time tables.

[silentwindfr]

Open world is an escape from the highly structured play of dungeons. It allows for both slower play styles and chaotic play styles to be accommodated. It is content that promises you the ultimate flexibility in dropping in and out of things, where instanced dungeons are fixed in their time tables.

actually i think it's possible to adapt dungeons for be flexible too... but that another debat.

[Tolmos]

For me, open world content makes an MMO feel alive after max level. Otherwise, MMOs that focus entirely on dungeons past max level start to feel like a Diablo style lobby-game setup. I go wherever I need to in order put together my group, either get teleported to the dungeon or run to its doorstep, but otherwise have absolutely no reason to go anywhere or do anything.

I've seen open world content done right; Square just hasn't gotten that down yet. But they will.

[coldreactive]

Otherwise, MMOs that focus entirely on dungeons past max level start to feel like a Diablo style lobby-game setup.

You mean like Soul of the Ultimate Nation? Vindictus? Continent of the Ninth? Phantasy Star Online (And 2nd)? Monster Hunter? Ragnarok Online 2? Aura Kingdom? Eden Eternal? Kitsu Saga? Grand Fantasia? Fiesta Online? Asda Story (And it's overhaul Asda 2)?

Oh, how about World of Warcraft? EverQuest? EverQuest 2?

[Dorfentyme]

You mean like Soul of the Ultimate Nation? Vindictus? Continent of the Ninth? Phantasy Star Online (And 2nd)? Monster Hunter? Ragnarok Online 2? Aura Kingdom? Eden Eternal? Kitsu Saga? Grand Fantasia? Fiesta Online? Asda Story (And it's overhaul Asda 2)?

Oh, how about World of Warcraft? EverQuest? EverQuest 2?

Except that games like WoW, Everquest, Everquest 2, Rift, LOTRO, etc, I could keep going...all have open world content.

Monster Hunter? It's not open world. Phantasy Star Online, Online 2, PSU, It's not open world. Vindictus is not open world.

You can't compare the mcdonalds-type F2P games with AAA MMORPG titles. That's not a fair argument, or a good one.

[coldreactive]

So basically, we need big open areas like South Thanalan's desert, but... not more desert. Maybe a huge field... with giant stone pillars.

[Fendred]

actually i think it's possible to adapt dungeons for be flexible too... but that another debat.

It would be great if they did. Hopefully they actually get back to us on that feedback.

[Dark-Saviour]

Guild Wars 2's open world bosses are loads better than hunts and it's 'dynamic events' are better than FATEs.

I disagree, personally.
1) The open-world bosses in GW2 are little more than glorified loot pinatas with rubbish odds on getting decent loot. The exceptions to this are Tequatl and the Three-headed Wurm, but these have the opposite problem in that they're damn near impossible to kill semi-consistently unless you game the mega-server since randoms can easily screw it up.
(Though they AREN'T difficult fights, and, despite what everyone claims, they require neither coordination nor the presence of commanders. All they require is for people to do the one bloody task the role they pick is responsible for [for Tequatl moreso than the wurm granted].)

2) Dynamic events as they were described were amazing. Dynamic events as they presently exist are terrible.
At least with FATEs, they are treated so trivially that their simplicity of presentation isn't so jarring. With GW2 though, areas end up feeling like they exist solely for the sake of housing an event/chain. And each area's events end up feeling fairly disparate to the ones surrounding it, creating this disjointed, terribly unnatural feel that is further exacerbated by how basic most of the events are and how frequently they are repeated.
Dynamic events should have been designed with a much larger ripple effect, more branches, longer objectives, etc. rather than just being bite-sized chunks of dull content the game seems to completely revolve around. And I'd have really liked it if the larger chains could span multiple zones (IE: Instead of having the shatterer come by every few hours, make the build-up something that spans days and actually feels significant).

I may seem overly harsh on GW2, but that's because I enjoyed the game far more before it actually came out... :-/

[Recaldy]

Not having a time limit.

[Blindheart]

For this game, they need to add more open world content simply designed for spirit bonding equipment for materia. This may be alleviated with expansions and zones with higher level open word mobs, but right now creating materia is far to time consuming for high level equipment. A great way to expand the open world would simply make dungeons "open" after clearing the missions. This would add like 20 new zones to explore... Tho they would need to open up all of the side areas in the dungeons that appear closed off on the first or even second runs with the hard mode dungeons.

Once dungeons are open they can then add all sorts of quests that could be repeated for the money of the day or week. And maybe rare monsters that are actually difficult to get to solo, with special drops. Can even make new treasure maps in dungeons with rooms that lock when you open your chest or something.