Are we as players afraid of a challenge?

[JustPlainLucas]

Would love it, but then I remember the days of XI. If you tried to walk from the town you started to another major town right off the bat, your chances of survival were very slim. There was no sprint, monsters used more than just line of sight and initially they wouldn't give up chase until you zoned. It was typical to need an escort or a group if you wanted to visit a city at a very low level. Everyone remembers the walk from the Dunes to Jeuno. It was nerve wracking, but so so worth it!

I remember trying to navigate a level 1 mule to Jeuno. So fun, and I made it on my second try!

[Cakekizyy]

I don't want a challenge; I want a fun, relaxing game. If I wanted a challenge, I would play a game like EQ or FF XI.

[OliviaJ]

I remember trying to navigate a level 1 mule to Jeuno. So fun, and I made it on my second try!

Oi, I did the same but at that point I could afford enough prism powders and sneak oils to do it. Still challenging, especially because those items wouldn't last long on a low level character. That MMO was quite a gem of programming. I do love that this one keeps me more actively engaged in battles. It feels more entertaining yet in some aspects too easy. Sorry if I went off topic.

[ADVSS]

i mean if ala migho we probably wont get any more than the next city to begin with i mean theres gyr abania and ala migho, with xephatol somewhere northwest... sorta like the 2 towns we got in heavensward. What wouldve made the experience similar is if the treck to idyllshire wasnt locked behind msq(couldnt walk into forelands, climb sohm al, get to churning mists, or go southwest to hinterlands, but even then.. like yeah. And now we have flying as a thing so, most likely will be implemented for the next expansion as well

[Jennika]

I don't want a challenge; I want a fun, relaxing game. If I wanted a challenge, I would play a game like EQ or FF XI.

I can respect that, but currently FFXIV feels more like work than fun for me.

[Welsper59]

I think something that needs to be mentioned is the reason and the mystery behind needing to do something like that proposed run. As others have noted, it's akin to the old XI Jeuno run, which could be a VERY long run without any deaths and even with help. Danger is one (positive) thing, but it needs to be there within some degree of reason. For it to be there "just because" is not a good enough reason and will often backfire. Think about servers that may not have a lot of players available to tag along or, the more likely case, lack of players willing to help at any given time for a basic step like accessing the new town hub. In games like XI, they allowed you to bypass most mobs with the Sneak/Invis (oils/powders), which is a concept that only gatherers are somewhat familiar with, and has only recently been truly introduced in combat thanks to PotD... and even then, many folks probably won't know what I'm referring to.

Then comes the previously mentioned "mystery". Many of us found the Jeuno trek so memorable because it was our first experience with the concept and didn't really know what we were going to see. Back in the day, there was no YouTube and video streaming in general was very limited. Hell, fansites for XI weren't exactly picture friendly thanks to a lack of good image hosting sites... anyone remember Photobucket and their bandwidth caps? Taking part in that run, which was surprisingly something you can consider to be difficult content, was all part of playing a "new" game back then since it was a new experience. Keep in mind my mentioning it was "difficult", is accurate. You didn't have many resources, as it's not like today where the game gives you the map and actually labels crap for you. Sometimes the XI map wouldn't have even told you where the zone lines were if you happened to have done some hidden quest to get said map. We have so many resources available today that you just can't recreate the thrill and mystery that players were essentially forced to take up back then. If you put us up against that wall again (or even for the first time for some), it's more of a burden than it is a memorable piece of XIV history.

Despite saying that however, I don't think some variation of it would be bad. Again, looking at XI, what they did for the Adoulin expansion could work with the OPs suggestion. There, shortly after starting the story, it sent you to the new land automatically, but stranded you in (what you could only assume is) the middle of nowhere. No map to see where you are and, given the game, monsters that are high level and you have no clue if they aggro or not. Turns out, however, you were very close to the new towns entrance... but there was no way for you to know that and you could still venture the wrong way, getting yourself lost. Perhaps something like that could be done, where while it does put you into a spot of uncertainty, you won't be expected to take 20min venturing across a zone just to get to the next.

[Zojha]

"Are you afraid of the dark?"
"No, I just prefer seeing what I step on."

Frankly, if I am in the mood of challenging myself...I use that vigor for something productive in real life, like learning hard for a good grade, workouts (Squats kill! ;- or projects. So in video games, I really just want to be entertained, not challenged.

[PArcher]

Whenever I hear people asking if the players want a challenge, all I think of is Gordias Savage. How people utterly failed at A3S...


Oh, overworld? I'm fine with some areas with actual threatening mobs around...but not along the main roads. Beastman strongholds and the like would be good, but as the base? No thank you.

[WinterLuna]

I like this idea if it was implemented well.

One thing that bugs me about FFXIV is the lack of danger in the open world, so I can definitely get on board with this. The problem lies with how SE would choose to implement it; if something like this isn't fully thought through it would only become annoying and frustrating.

A suggestion I heard before would be to simply add mobs in the open world that are above level 60 (beyond our cap). This would make the world dangerous and you would actually have to think before charging into things, such as gatherers using stealth or bringing potions with you. I imagine a lot of players complaining about this though, which only links back to the title.. maybe the majority of FFXIV is afraid of challenge.

[Jetstream_Fox]

A open world zelda esque sneaking puzzle could be interesting and give an enemy stronghold life. Set enemy spawns along a predetermined path, able to avoid detection simply through patience and timing. Being detected resetting your progress completely/partially probably via death. For parties just pushing through the objective could be to zerg certain enemies before they can raise the alarm and flood the area with reinforcements.

So you basically want MGS 5.