What does Heavensward actually bring to the table as an expansion?

[Goodberry]

Good, balanced post, I agree with practically all you said, both on the "like" and "dislike" side.

I'd add on "like":
- Day/night cycle, weather effects
- The Beast Tribes and how they talk
- Most of the music

On "dislike":
- Not being able to group with your chocobo when soloing dungeons, or having a minion out at the same time, etc.
- Too many (and slow) loading screens
- FATEs should be more meaningful and rewarding, at all levels (I am tired of going to a FATE and finding nobody there!)

And yes, the current maps are really lousy, and make the world look smaller than it actually is. Make them WoW-style. Map the whole of a zone, and make us discover where we can or can't go.

[Daralii]

Good, balanced post, I agree with practically all you said, both on the "like" and "dislike" side.

I'd add on "like":
- Day/night cycle, weather effects
- The Beast Tribes and how they talk
- Most of the music

On "dislike":
- Not being able to group with your chocobo when soloing dungeons, or having a minion out at the same time, etc.
- Too many (and slow) loading screens
- FATEs should be more meaningful and rewarding, at all levels (I am tired of going to a FATE and finding nobody there!)

And yes, the current maps are really lousy, and make the world look smaller than it actually is. Make them WoW-style. Map the whole of a zone, and make us discover where we can or can't go.

The loading screens are an unfortunate result of PS3 limitations. Even 1.0 had them between regions, they were just hidden in the form of walking through straight tunnels for a bit.

[Imoen]

The loading screens are an unfortunate result of PS3 limitations. Even 1.0 had them between regions, they were just hidden in the form of walking through straight tunnels for a bit.

I'm pretty sure that was not just ps3 limitations. There was hardly anything in the zones at all, just a lot of repeated sections. The more you stuff in the map the more that cuts into resources, and I don't think square has the best streaming solution yet, XV looks like it is trying to step into that open world thing more.