Stormblood FATEs and Guildleves: Can we please have something different?

[savageink]

When Heavensward came out, I had hoped that we would get less of the "Kill x things, pick up Y items" formula that we had seen among A Realm Reborn. Instead, we got more of the copy/paste formula with a Heavensward reskin. Will there be new varieties of these types of conent in 4.0?

what would you suggest that doesn't amount to killing things and finding things?

[Shurrikhan]

what would you suggest that doesn't amount to killing things and finding things?

Finding things to kill?

...Wait...

That said, I don't think it's a minority thought that the open-world experience in FFXIV is disappointingly bare-bone in its use, or in what systems attempt to make use of it or otherwise lie over it.

I've seen a few different ideas on the forums that at least point spiritually at a direction of improvement, whether or not their execution can as of yet be vouched for (detailed as they might be, that's a far cry from having survived implementation): Salvage, Warbands, Expeditions, (non-FATE) Escorts, the open world terrain/assets as large-scale instances for particular missions, etc. Sandpark had an especially neat one, actually, some time last year, using an auto-generated expedition area with harsh conditions, meant for longer, more immersive forays. I'll see if I can find and link any of them.

[savageink]

Finding things to kill?

...Wait...

That said, I don't think it's a minority thought that the open-world experience in FFXIV is disappointingly bare-bone in its use, or in what systems attempt to make use of it or otherwise lie over it.

I've seen a few different ideas on the forums that at least point spiritually at a direction of improvement, whether or not their execution can as of yet be vouched for (detailed as they might be, that's a far cry from having survived implementation): Salvage, Warbands, Expeditions, (non-FATE) Escorts, the open world terrain/assets as large-scale instances for particular missions, etc. Sandpark had an especially neat one, actually, some time last year, using an auto-generated expedition area with harsh conditions, meant for longer, more immersive forays. I'll see if I can find and link any of them.

most of those examples still amount to finding things and killing things. just fancier versions. the only one that wasn't was escorts, and we do get those.

[Shurrikhan]

most of those examples still amount to finding things and killing things. just fancier versions. the only one that wasn't was escorts, and we do get those.

Escorts are things finding you and you killing them.

You're not going to be able to avoid finding and/or killing. But you can make the process more engaging.

[savageink]

Escorts are things finding you and you killing them.

You're not going to be able to avoid finding and/or killing. But you can make the process more engaging.

then the poster is asking the wrong question. lol! But really, I can see guildhests being more engaging since they can be planned, but FATEs are random encounters that pop up on the map. i'm not sure there is a way to make them more fancy as it were. The fate chain in the area north of quarrymill is probably one of the better ones because its in a gated area so it's more like a mission, but nobody ever does that one. because it's higher level than the others in the area and people have mostly moved on from fate grinding by the time they can solo it.

[Shurrikhan]

then the poster is asking the wrong question. lol! But really, I can see guildhests being more engaging since they can be planned, but FATEs are random encounters that pop up on the map. i'm not sure there is a way to make them more fancy as it were. The fate chain in the area north of quarrymill is probably one of the better ones because its in a gated area so it's more like a mission, but nobody ever does that one. because it's higher level than the others in the area and people have mostly moved on from fate grinding by the time they can solo it.

The most lucrative path to a solution, so far as I can guess, would be to make FATEs NOT random. Instead, base them on the moving forces within a particular zone.

...Of course, that means that one would have to first create those moving forces, which means that the open world would actually have to be a dynamic place.

That it itself is where any of your interesting open world content types would stem from.

Although a separate can of worms, the discussion of level syncing in the open world isn't far from the subject, and may well end up a necessary component of creating truly interesting open world content. My suggestion would be to allow all additional abilities, but at reduced potency, and tailoring scaling formulas and check frequencies to better match to varying ilvl, classlvl, and actual output levels.