next void ark concept art from LIVE letter?

[Warlyx]

looks awesome , but yeah path with trash > boss > path with trash > boss , at least its different and more open than others raids

[Nalien]

Open world dungeons or dungeons with multiple paths will never happen. People will just tunnel vision everything.

Not what I was asking for... Was I even asking for anything? Pretty sure I was just stating my disappointment that this huge area is just going to be a set path and we'll never get to explore the area...

Open world dungeons might be close though, but really I just want Diadem to be done right, and that's certainly possible... FFXI did it perfectly OK with Sky/Sea/etc., and I see no reason Diadem couldn't adopt a similar force pop mechanic in which we follow a similar path of NMs to reach Absolute Virtue... This zone, which I'm assuming is Yafaem Saltmoors, looks absolutely perfect for such an area... It's much more similar to Sky/Sea than Diadem was, given we have three distinct areas (Saltmoors, the City, the Pyramid to Ru'Aun Gardens, The Shrine of the Ru'Avitau, Ve'Lugannon Palace) that could all be locations for increasingly stronger NMs, with our Absolute Virtue clone sitting at the top waiting to be spawned... Instead, it's just going to be trash > boss > trash > boss > trash > boss > boss...

[MilesSaintboroguh]

You may not have asked for it, but I know many others have or will and unless the dev team suddenly got more people and a budget increase, it'll be just a pipe dream. How often do we see us players asking for a new feature, only to be told no in a variety of ways?

[Colorful]

I'm upset knowing that this is just going to be another standard 24 man raid, with trash > boss > trash > boss > trash > boss > boss... This looks like it could have been an absolutely amazing area, if Diadem was handled right (spoilers, it wasn't) I'd be hoping this was an area on that scale... Instead it's another second installment of a raid trilogy in which we'll seemingly be fighting the final boss at the top of a structure with clouds as far as the eye can see...

Damn it's pretty though... Shame that large sprawling open area is just going to suffer the XIII effect... This could be an actual zone in its own right, it's almost a waste of resources that it isn't...

Probably going to get shit for saying this, but they really should take notes from World of Warcraft for raids. Firelands was one of the better raids in recent(ish) time, it was open and let you pick the order you wanted to do the bosses in with exceptions in the final 3 I believe (7 total). That's not to mention the lack of conveniently placed circular or rectangular platforms, god am I getting tired of those.

[ToniRomo]

The artwork looks great. Looking forward to seeing this place.

[Nalien]

You may not have asked for it, but I know many others have or will and unless the dev team suddenly got more people and a budget increase, it'll be just a pipe dream. How often do we see us players asking for a new feature, only to be told no in a variety of ways?

That's the thing... Were weren't told no about this... We got Diadem, it's just Diadem sucked Ba'als... They put zero effort into crafting Diadem into a solid event, they just slapped us with a zone and put Hunts in it, because Hunts aren't the single worst piece of content ever added to this game (no, that comes second to Verminion these days). It's just glorified FATEs, while anyone who played XI for a serious amount of time can probably flip a series of charts out that detail exactly how something like Diadem should have worked...

More people and/or a bigger budget isn't going to fix this... It's becoming increasingly apparent that the developers just don't care to deviate from the templates they set up in 2.0... I'm becoming increasingly disillusioned by this... The music and level design in this game are top notch, it's just such a shame they're wasted on recycling 2.0 content ad nauseum... Hiring new staff might get that pointed out and changed, but they shouldn't need to do that... They should just be able to look at their 24 man raids, look at the forums, and realize that they've done the exact same thing for over two years... How hard is it to then go ahead and, I don't know, take that 3 party split for the trash we always get, and instead work that for an entire boss? They sort of did that with Cerberus, but I'm talking something much more like Atomos, where the alliance is physically split up, just with boss level mechanics, not one or two gimmicks... We've got a huge area for 3.3s raid, why not use it for something like that?

Another? How about we just have three paths right from the start... Group A fights a boss, while Group B and C fight "endless" waves of trash, with one of the two also doing something to provide support for Group A. Then we move up and this switches, A nd C fight waves, B fights boss. Once C does their boss, we move onto the final boss as usual. That's the same 4 boss and trash we currently get really, it's just a different spin on this tired template... Not the most amazing improvement in the world, but after two years of trash > boss > trash > boss > trash > boss > boss, it's something...

[MagiusNecros]

I see lines of linearity in the dungeon and raid design again. Oh boy oh joy. Hopefully the new gear designs if any won't suck.

[RyuSaarva]

And after a couple of runs it will turn into a massive chore.

if you are not having fun, stop playing.

[Mug]

I wish they would at least go back to something more similar to the Labyrinth of the Ancients, where they were a bit more daring when it came to experimenting with party co-operation. It breaks my heart that they decided to dumb the following 24-man raids down to alleviate "player stress".

[CGMidlander]

lol that pyramid. Illuminati confirmed.