The World: so Big so Beautiful... But yet so empty

[Blackcanary]

ARR feilt more alive because people used Fates to level up. People don't use fates any more to behonest with you. I said from the get go that they should make the dungeons open world dungeons instead of DF/instances. Not only would that improve the community in this game but you would no longer feel like ur the only person in this world out side towns.

[Kosmos992k]

I think 2.0 had the best maps, when I heard HW was gonna have bigger zones back in it's early announcements I thought they were gonna go the more 2.0 design route but just larger, after which I feel the zone quality has dropped in many areas.

Yeah, I felt similarly. I could have done with less of a size increase with the new maps in HW and SB, and a bit more acivity within them. Sure the smaller ARR zones have things improbably close to each other, but they didn't feel empty. Then again, the wastelands of Western Coerthas are just frozen tundra, so how could it not feel empty...

Seriously though, I think the balance needs to be a bit smaller than the new maps and about as 'busy' as the ARR maps.

[Kosmos992k]

ARR feilt more alive because people used Fates to level up. People don't use fates any more to behonest with you. I said from the get go that they should make the dungeons open world dungeons instead of DF/instances. Not only would that improve the community in this game but you would no longer feel like ur the only person in this world out side towns.

Open world dungeons would be a train wreck between OP players stomping everything and packs of characters zerging everything, no one else would have a chance to do a thing.

I've said this before, but one solution is to not create hubs. Spread out the end game NPCs to different maps. Put something vital everywhere. This convenience factor is what kills the population in the maps. Duty finder is OK, but also maybe eliminate the ability to choose specific dungeons and Raids from the menu and force people to travel to the entrance of the specific instance you want to do to create some activity in the zones.

Indeed, this would help greatly. concentrating everything in a single location as a hub sucks players into that zone like a giant sponge, leaving other zones high and dry.

[Dark-Saviour]

I've said this before, but one solution is to not create hubs. Spread out the end game NPCs to different maps. Put something vital everywhere. This convenience factor is what kills the population in the maps. Duty finder is OK, but also maybe eliminate the ability to choose specific dungeons and Raids from the menu and force people to travel to the entrance of the specific instance you want to do to create some activity in the zones.

That would create more activity in chat, but not really in the 'zone', as people would just mob the specific NPC/entrance and the rest of the zone would end up dead.

Unfortunately, with the current system, you have pretty much one option to get people "playing" in the open world; make content there far more lucrative than anywhere else. In ARR, people did FATEs because they were the most rewarding content type at that time; after everything was "balanced" and dungeons became more desirable, FATEs went downhill. The spreading of the population across more zones has just made that (appear) even worse.

Other than that, I suspect the only way you can really forcibly liven up the zones would be to essentially kill the game; remove everything convenient. Remove teleporting and Chocobo porters, make it so you have to preselect a mount before going anywhere and give it stamina, give players more "realistic" sprint stamina themselves and require them to make camp to heal up, make all ingredients scarce and require them to be gathered from "regions" on the map rather than nodes (so a lot of "You begin mining, but find nothing at this spot"), etc. And then make the map 20-30 times bigger. Basically, take 1.0, then make it even more of a headache.

Players will only do a thing en masse if they are absolutely forced to, or its the most profitable use of time.

[Naunet]

Seriously though, I think the balance needs to be a bit smaller than the new maps and about as 'busy' as the ARR maps.

I disagree. Smaller will not help. It's entirely possible to make a large map full of character and life - see GW2, Rift, WoW, WildStar.

I appreciate when things are not crowded together. I especially appreciate when there are areas that may not serve any combat purpose but are there to enrich the world - enterable buildings, caves, shrines, whatever else.

[Kosmos992k]

I disagree. Smaller will not help. It's entirely possible to make a large map full of character and life - see GW2, Rift, WoW, WildStar.

I appreciate when things are not crowded together. I especially appreciate when there are areas that may not serve any combat purpose but are there to enrich the world - enterable buildings, caves, shrines, whatever else.

I agree with you on that, it's just that the HW zones really can feel extremely empty at times. Though that may be due to the nature of the map such as the Churning mists and Sea of Clouds which tend to defy normal mapping because of the numerous altitude changes. It makes them feel extremely fragmented, overly large and empty - IMHO. When I say smaller, I am not suggesting that the maps should be ARR sized, but unless more life (and in some cases sense) is applied to the maps, they could do with being a bit less than 4 times the size of an ARR map.

What's still funny to me is that traveling these maps on foot is actually a lot more fun that flying, and you get to know the maps better. Flight may add to the feeling that players have of maps being empty.

[LaylaTsarra]

One of the things I've enjoyed when leveling my alts is the fact that I would have to experience all the zones had to offer from the ground again. Flying has in many ways stolen the beauty of the game from the ground given most will not travel by land when they can fly to where they want to be. Having more to do in this areas wouldn't be a bad thing.

[Magic-Mal]

I see what you did there with the title TC. I see it.

[SendohJin]

but also maybe eliminate the ability to choose specific dungeons and Raids from the menu and force people to travel to the entrance of the specific instance you want to do to create some activity in the zones.

this is the worse idea ever. people already commute to work in real life, why do you want to force them to commute to play the game.

[Sandoria]

I'd like to see more interactive doodads and treasures hidden around the world. A good lot of the towns scattered over the world feel like hollow building veneers (Can't enter nor explore inside) with not a lot to distinguish them from one another. With a little bit of clutter and love, the game would have a whole new level of depth.