Will we ever revisit other "destroyed"/inaccessible areas from 1.0?

[BobbinT]

I believe I read an interview where Yoshi explained the reason for ARR's world being docile was that they expected a lot of players new to mmos, but they will be adding more danger in the expansion since these players should now be more experienced.

That kinda doesn't make any sense. I, for one, start 1.0 as my 1st MMO. So you can imagine how fresh I was to the MMO world back then, like an MMO infant. And yet, here I am, already succeeded complete tagging every aether and sub-aethers, and got myself that nice "Wanderer's Shadow" title under my Legacy achievements.

However, I can understand the reason of it being performance issue, as this current version were also made available for consoles, unlike 1.0 which is impossible to made a PS3 port back then. ^^;

[Shurrikhan]

I find Mor Dhona to be especially interesting, in that the areas that are currently accessible fall almost entirely in the same places on the zone map as they did in 1.0.

That said, the imperial base used to be within one small valley SW of Silvertear, with two sub-zones around it that could be used instead to pass from the north end to the south, rather than being the whole of the connection between the two ends. That said, they could simply make the upper bluffs above (west) of it part of a much larger southern region, etc., as long as the train no longer leads directly to N. Than., goes through a tunnel, or whatever.

::I think what I liked most about Mor Dhona was that a lot of the areas, especially to the East and Northeast, looked fairly real, like rain-shadowed mountain valleys (albeit with some added crystals). The whole feel of it reminded me of some of my favorite wilderness hikes.

Also really miss the old Bluefog... I would have really liked to see that canyon run type of setting remastered--more verticality, access, etc. Partial flight there, come Heavensward revamps, would be really cool too.

[HeavensSword]

That kinda doesn't make any sense. I, for one, start 1.0 as my 1st MMO. So you can imagine how fresh I was to the MMO world back then, like an MMO infant. And yet, here I am, already succeeded complete tagging every aether and sub-aethers, and got myself that nice "Wanderer's Shadow" title under my Legacy achievements.

However, I can understand the reason of it being performance issue, as this current version were also made available for consoles, unlike 1.0 which is impossible to made a PS3 port back then. ^^;

Starting from 1.0 is different then starting from ARR. That's like a 2-3 year head start?

Yourself and I may not agree with their decision of making the world less threatening for newbies, but that is the reason they gave.

Reference from a 2014 FanFest interview: http://www.reddit.com/r/ffxiv/commen...naoki_yoshida/

Reddit: Now we'll leave dungeons and go out into the open world of Eorzea. In Final Fantasy XI and 1.0 the world wasn't exactly a safe place to travel by yourself. There was a lot of high level monsters that posed a risk to you. We don't see that in A Realm Reborn. It's very, very safe to go anywhere in the world by yourself. Is there any plans in the expansion to bring back danger into the world?

Yoshida: When we first were doing the design for ARR we wanted to bring in people who had not played MMOs before. So for someone that knows the thrill of running and getting something on you and having to walk and run around and try and get away from them or knowing that you could be killed at any second; that's great for them. But for someone that had never played an MMO before that can be a lot of stress. A lot of those people that first entering ARR think, "I bought an RPG why do I have to do this? I didn't buy a stealth game.". And so we didn't want to have that kind of stress on the new players. You're the Warrior of Light you should be able to feel like you're the Warrior of Light and not be killed by a squirrel. However, in 3.0 people are level 50. The level cap is going up to level 60. People are experienced. We want to bring back a little bit of that dangerous feel in the expansion. I mean you're going to be going into areas controlled by the Dragons. So now there's chances that you might get on your Chocobo and auto run, look around, go to get yourself a... "Oh I'm dead". We want to bring back some of that thrill and we're adding that to our concept for 3.0. But we're not going to make it anything as thrilling as the original Final Fantasy XI. We know that there's people out there who love that though.

[BobbinT]

Starting from 1.0 is different then starting from ARR. That's like a 2-3 year head start?

Not really. I started 1.0 quite late actually, around Feb 2012 I think. That's only like 7-8 months before 1.0 final save. But for a game that ppl deemed difficult, I still enjoyed it and I did try making the best out of it. Still... I really wish I have more time back then, or started that game way earlier perhaps. And pointing out again that 1.0 is really my 1st MMO, as in never tried any MMO before. So I guess that's one of reason I don't really felt so thrilling with 2.0. I still decide to continue though, hoping the memory of old enjoyment would be returning some how... ^^;

And yes, I do aware of that FanFest interview. I still think it as strange. And it's kinda a bummer on that last sentence where Yoshi won't go near the level of FF11, which I do start after 1.0, and love the world of Vana'diel so much.

I guess in the end, we kinda have different view after all. MMO does evolved too I guess, dunno to what direction though... ^^;

[Hiruke]

Also, what happened to:
Cassiopeia Hollows? Collapsed?

Good point. I'll add this one to the list.

Bearded Rock? Decomissioned?

I don't tend to worry about the 1.0 camps too much. There's quite a few that no longer exist as aetheryte camps, often where the name of the camp is used for a location - just it's not where an aetheryte resides. It's interesting that there doesn't seem to be anything on the map called Bearded Rock. Summerford Farms is the closest aetheryte to where it would be. It looks like we lost an entire section of land to the southeast of Red Rooster Stead.

Shposhae? Collapsed? No longer used by pirates?

I'll add this one to the list, as well. Thematically, however, I think Sastasha covers both of these zones nicely.

How was Thornmarch moved from Crimson Bark (?) to Bramble Patch?

I think this one would just be chalked up to coincidence/necessity. West Shroud is ruined, so now Moggle Mog is summoned into a similar area found elsewhere.

Where is Humblehearth? Used to be in Central Shroud!

I imagine they weren't too worried about putting the names of all of the aetherial gates everywhere, even though they did keep many/most. Some names from the 1.0 maps are clearly missing, not just this one. I just chalk this one up to changes in the landscape in general. I'm more bothered by larger areas up and disappearing.

[Hiruke]

Some other areas I missed in the initial post, now added to the OP:

Cassiopeia Hollow

A dungeon area near 1.0's Camp Bloodshore, presumably this would be somewhere near Costa del Sol now, but it's not really hinted at anywhere. I would imagine there would be little interest in reviving this area as Sastasha already covers what it might offer thematically? Still would be interesting to know what happened to it.

Shposhae

A dungeon area near 1.0's Moraby Bay, presumably this would be around where "Moraby Bay" (the bay itself rather than the drydocks) is marked on the map, but it's not really hinted at anywhere. I would imagine there would be little interest in reviving this area as Sastasha already covers what it might offer thematically? Still would be interesting to know what happened to it.

[Ibi]

And yes, I do aware of that FanFest interview. I still think it as strange. And it's kinda a bummer on that last sentence where Yoshi won't go near the level of FF11, which I do start after 1.0, and love the world of Vana'diel so much.

The biggest thing that makes XIV different from XI is that if you run far enough away from something that's attacking you in XIV, it'll eventually get tired of chasing you.

Very few things (usually confined to those that tracked by scent in zones where water was common) would ever stop chasing you in XI, which made the prospect of catching something's attention much more serious.

The biggest thing that made 1.0 different is that you could go around a corner or up a ramp from level 5 mobs and find aggressive level 70+ mobs. It was certainly exciting, but also very arbitrary most of the time, and the only way you realized you weren't supposed to have gone somewhere was when you were already dead.

[Chewy2nd]

Talking of 1.0 areas, that was the

Sil'dih Aqueducts

in 2.55, right?

[treuhavik]

Talking of 1.0 areas, that was the

Sil'dih Aqueducts

in 2.55, right?

Aye, 'twas.

[Hiruke]

Good point. I'll add that to the OP in a spoiler tag.