What steps could the devs take to better the Open World in XIV?

[Jojoya]

The major problem with 'open world should be X' at this point in time is ... flight.

Once you have unlocked flight, you can fly over danger.

And no, I am not willing to go back to the days when there wasn't flight. That was 5 years ago, thank you very much.

Even without flight, danger is easily avoided in an open world zone. You simply go around it outside of its aggro range. That's what players would do in WoW with creatures like the Fel Reaver in Hellfire Peninsula (which actually had a reason to kill it until they took away raid attunements) and the Storm Giants in Howling Fjord (which were pointless to kill).

If there's reason to face it and defeat it, existence of flight is irrelevant. Players will have to be on the ground to enter combat and earn their reward. You don't get rewards by flying over the content.

Flying is a huge part of the problem that I agree with. I also think adding flight was a horrible idea and it is horrible in any mmo and should be removed. Simply because it negates the whole world.

So do teleports. Entire parts of the world are erased from existence when I use them. At least with flying, I'm still seeing the world and can choose to land to interact with it if there's a reason relevant to what I'm interested in.

You have the option not to fly, except for the rare locations that can only be reached by flying. Choose not to fly if it bothers you.