how big did ff11 area grow before and after all the expansion?

[Magis]

IDK, it's just something that really ended up bugging me before I finally quit... "Oh, so you had a ramp up this cliff in the past but you just demolished it after the war? Thanks for making me take the loooong way round", granted we did eventually get to use Timelord hacks to skip up cliffs like that IIRC. Even Wings of the Goddess zones didn't really feel lived in, though they did feel like there was a war going on which was the point. I think the new Windurst side zone (Fort somethingsomething?) was probably the best example of what I'd have liked more of in XI (and am getting more of in XIV). XI never did zone transitions well IMO though, with the exception of caves, all the zones looked the same, whether you were travelling from a mountainous region to a jungle, forest, or beach, they all looked the same. North Shroud to Coerthas is a perfect example of zone transitions done right.

Windurst side zone? Might have been after I quit. I don't see how you can say all zones "looked" the same when their environments varied greatly as well as their layout. How does Yahtunga Jungle, Valkrum Dunes, and Xarcabard look the same to each other? Even similar environments were different, such as Ronfaure and Sanctuary of Zi'tah which while both forests, were both different in their asthetic (also that music, both sooooooooo good).

This is actually one thing I have consistently begged for in XIV; Dungeons to become part of the open world following their completion. I guess ultimately it didn't gel well with their "Lets recycle these for Hard Modes" strategy, but I still think it would have been an awesome addition to the game. It really does sadden me that so many of the zones are locked in instances, I can just imagine going fishing in Brayflox's Longstop (prior to the Hard Mode ruining the place). Keep the "scenario" that played out there in an instance, sure, but give me the actual zone to enjoy after... /sigh

Even WoW did this better than FFXIV did. You still had to go to the entrance of the dungeon, but the zone line generated the instance. When "hard modes" came out, you chose which zone it would enter you into after crossing the zone line IIRC... that or there was multiple entrances I forget.