[suggestions] About new MAPS in 3.0 and beyond

[Sandpark]

-Areas need more interactive elements
1.Water,snow,rain affect movement speed. The deeper the slower you move
2.Heavy sandstorms, rain, snow,etc affect visibility. The intensity affects the map.From slightly to rendering the map useless
3.Exposure like fire, hail,etc affect hp,mp,tp, skill use, gear when in hot pockets
4.Less invisible walls
5.Areas need more dimensions.Depending on what/where sinkhole, whirlpool, etc you fall into you start in a sub-terrain dungeon
6.Giant fish that eats all in path. Dungeon, enemies,leves,fates,city inside it,duty finder teleport doesn't work outside the fish

-One Aetheryte at the starting/entrance point of area
1.No resource npcs in non city zones
2.Players build camps and amenities in spots. Enemies/natural disasters wipe a camp out after a some time
3.Camps serve as a beacon/waypoint. Upon death you begin at last visited camp
4.Zones restrict teleportation/return. The only way out is make it back to the starting aetheryte to teleport

[Freyt]

Now I'm kinda thinking natural disasters would be a great element. Things such as tornadoes (sandstorms) and tsunamis, to impact the player while they're fighting. Not annoyingly so, they could plan around it, but maybe only certain enemies would appear during these events and so the elite players would actually plan on fighting in these disasters.

[Souljacker]

I don't see any reason to not have aetherytes in places. The reason this world *feels* small is because, hello, it *is* small. SE just needs to make a bigger world, and then it will feel bigger. No need to artificially inflate the time to traverse to a location just because we walked uphill in the snow both ways back in Uleguerand Range.

Even that game had plenty of ways to get to a zone.

[Themis]

I don't see any reason to not have aetherytes in places. The reason this world *feels* small is because, hello, it *is* small. SE just needs to make a bigger world, and then it will feel bigger. No need to artificially inflate the time to traverse to a location just because we walked uphill in the snow both ways back in Uleguerand Range.

Even that game had plenty of ways to get to a zone.

Most of the reasons I've heard about not having aetherytes is the age-old "it makes the world feel smaller, and forcing people to walk everywhere will make it feel larger/you'll see more people travelling between areas". Which is a bad reason to not have them, in and of itself.

Duelle, on an earlier page, makes a good reason about why aetherytes should be limited in certain cases. One of these reasons involves maps which are not explored or not inhabited by people, especially those who are connected to the people who know how to build them. It'd make no sense for some remote peoples to have knowledge of how to build an aetheryte crystal for us to simply attune to and use. Having them become uncommon, or even non-existant, in some areas is completely acceptable within the lore. Other means of transportation should exist there.

This is really the only justifiable reason for nodes not being as prevalent in future maps. At least in the beginning. As we begin to explore further afield, we should see less nodes being available to us and require use to actually navigate to these areas. But eventually, as patches come and go, these areas should be given camps and nodes placed there to ease travelling. This would give the effect of expanding, and that too would be completely acceptable.

Ultimately, though, if people don't want to use aetherytes they do have that option; just don't use them. Requesting their complete removal is stupid and simply an attempt to push their preferred game play on others (not acceptable at all). But limiting them, especially further afield, is completely ok in my opinion and only enriches the world by being true to the lore that's been created for it.

And because it's helpful to refer to, here's the info regarding the nodes from Camate a few months back:

Ever wonder exactly what an aetheryte is? I mean, you use them every day to get around.

Luckily we have some cool information from the lore team to share!
* Updated at 8:00 p.m. with the help of the Localization Team!

What is an aetheryte?
Aetherytes are colossal structures comprised of crystallized aether. So that they may serve as waypoints for aetherial travel, these crystals have been amplified through the use of advanced Sharlayan technology.

Why doesn't everyone use aetherytes?
To traverse the Lifestream safely with Teleport and Return requires a great deal of spiritual energy, known as anima. While many individuals, such as adventurers, possess the fortitude to endure such travel, some individuals do not. What’s more, even if one has the ability to use aetherytes, the frequency with which one can do so varies. In essence, for some, the recast time for these spells can be far longer than for an adventurer.

As a result, only a fraction of the populace can utilize aetherial travel habitually, which is why chocobos, airships, and other forms of transportation still play a major role in Eorzea.

Why does it cost gil to use aetherytes?
Many aetheryte camps were destroyed during the Calamity, which necessitated their reconstruction. However, this came at great expense, and so teleportation fees must be collected to repay the as yet unpaid debt.

However, the gil doesn’t just magically disappear from your purse! Though it's not shown in the game, it's collected by the guards keeping watch of the aetherytes.

On a side note, guards posted by each city-state's aetheryte can tell you about aetherytes and teleportation magic. If you're interested, see what they have to say!

At the very least we might see some remote, since-deactivated/broken aetherytes around Eorzea (like the old 1.0 style) that may have been set up by Sharlayan people many years ago. And that, too, would be a nice thing to have because of lore reasons. And there's no reason why something like that can't be a thing.

[JustPlainLucas]

I want more spelunking. I loved exploring a new map in FFXI and then discovering that there's a twisting tunnel that leads to a massive cave underneath. Or when I found a way to get to a river at the bottom of the canyon, looking up and wondering, "Wow, I can't believe I was way up there!"

[Granamir]

Agree with open dungeons and more nature events.

Also more spelunking!

[Duelle]

Agree with open dungeons and more nature events.

Also more spelunking!

Sticking with the side activity thing, I'd probably make spelunking something akin to a minigame. Like...you'd have air as the limited resource while spelunking, performing certain actions help you go deeper into the cave/tunnel, doing certain things cost you more air than others, certain events could maybe restore a bit of air and so on. If you run out of air or go dangerously low you pass out and wake up outside the cave/tunnel, explained by members of the spelunking guild rescuing you before you died in the cave/tunnel.

[Samburi]

1.0 had ridiculously large maps and hardly any Aetheryte crystals and it was dreadful and a waste of time. Traveling a half hour to drop off a leve quest then spending another half hour running back...rinse and repeat. I just don't think it was as appealing to the masses as people imagine it would be and was some of the reason why the game flopped in the first place.
I truly feel that the few people whom do not wish to have the convenience of Aetheryte teleports should just not utilize them as a personal discipline.

The Aetheryte network was in 1.0 bigger than in ARR. Not only was there the Aetheryte crystals, but also the natural Aetheryte nodes. It was possible to go to every place in the world in just 1 minute. But it have cost Anima instead of gil, so we walked a lot. That changed with hamlet defence and Atomos event, where it was then possible to fill up all Anima in just a hour instead of days.

[Bluevann]

I'd like to add.. give the sea some damn effects! Seriously, no matter what weather is up, be it fair, windy, or a thunderstorm, the sea is always as flat as pool of olive oil. Even in cutscenes with ships, the sea is yet still and unmoving, with only a "rippling water" effect at the edges of the ship happening. I want to see big raging waves during storms, and maybe even some random animations like the whales and dolphins on the FFXI ferry/manaclipper rides!

[HeroSamson]

What I want them to do is some how mix Final Fantasy XI world with FFXIV world.

like a Instance where we work together just like when they enter a burn circle for a big fight, we enter the same type of burn circle in FFXIV and we end up together.

Not on FFXI server or FFXIV server just something inbetween where we could go exist and fight a few battles together.

That would be something to see.