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

[DPZ2]

This is true if you can fly to your destination, if you had to go through a dungeon like area first which already prohibits flying it would not harm it.

Welcome to the world of current Dungeon Instances! Your description would require an instanced environment, just like dungeons. So much for the "open world" side of things.

The main problem, as I see it, is Reward. You can get gear in certain dungeon instances already, as well as minions and orchestrion rolls. Do you propose dropping BiS gear in these instances? How are these new "dungeon like" instances going to differ from current maps or raid/dungeon instances?

[Jojoya]

snip.

Why are you going into detail about a dungeon suggestion when the topic is how to add to open world content? MMOs aren't going to go back to the days of open world dungeons because there are too many problems associated with them, like server stability and player griefing drama.

If you like dungeon style content over open world content, then do dungeons. There's a nice long list of dungeon to choose from in Duty Finder. You've got the ability to make them more difficult by choosing min ilvl if you want more of a challenge. Not everyone is looking for that challenge.

As for staying power, nothing in a MMO has staying power. Players can only repeat content for so long before they demand new content and new rewards, and inevitably they want the new rewards to be better than what was previously earned. Not every player has the same skill level. It's fine for new rewards to allow players to steamroll over old content they weren't able to complete in the past. You could start adding new rewards to old content but players would still end up bored with it, looking for new content. Makes more sense to put the new rewards in the new content.

All those raids you mentioned? They still have purpose. Story, gear for glamour and other items, achievements - still waiting for those players who haven't had the chance to experience that content before, or enjoyed it enough they want to experience it again. Just because you're no longer interested in it doesn't mean the content is going to waste, just as the open world isn't going to waste because you lose interest in that. Others are still enjoying that content so it's there for them.

Needs to have items of value. The gems from fates were nice but the rewards havent been updated frequently enough. The open world needs candy we can chase after and new candy needs to come either every patch or every other patch to keep it active.

Just because those rewards are no longer relevant to you doesn't mean they aren't relevant to other players. Someone needs materia and doesn't grind dungeons or do hunts? They can buy it from the gemstone vendor. Making some crafted items and need materials that have a low drop rate off ShB creatures? Go buy it from the gemstone vendors.

The open world is still active. Is it extremely active like at the start of the expansion? No, but that's normal for any content. Content participation naturally dies off over time as players get the rewards they want or otherwise get bored with the content. But I still run into other players daily as I go out scouting hunts and doing trains, leveling alt jobs, doing beast tribe quests, gathering, etc. The open world is not empty.

Just because you don't feel the content and rewards are relevant to you at your stage of progression doesn't mean the content is relevant to no one at all.

[RareItems]

Bozja is a great example on an Open World FFXIV, I hope they make more content based on that.

[Edax]

Just because those rewards are no longer relevant to you doesn't mean they aren't relevant to other players.

Couldn't hurt to have more relevant rewards.

[Iscah]

Contrary to "more threats", I want more passive enemies (according to what type of animal it is) instead of everything being out to kill me regardless of logic.

[LineageRazor]

Contrary to "more threats", I want more passive enemies (according to what type of animal it is) instead of everything being out to kill me regardless of logic.

I definitely agree with this. Dangerous as FFXI's world was, even at the highest levels some of the overworld mobs were aggressive and others were not. You could pretty much always be confident you were safe around sheep-type enemies like Karakul. Oddly enough, you were usually safe around Spider enemies, as well, in spite of the fact that spiders tend to be go-to bogeymen in most games; in very few of the areas where you could find spiders were those spiders aggressive (the top level of the Boyada Tree was one of the few, as I recall).

This game, once you get past ARR, EVERY normal mob aggros on sight (or sound), no matter how passive a creature it might look like. It's a bit silly. Of course, given how weaksauce overworld mobs are in this game, they might as well all be passive...

[Iscah]

Of course, given how weaksauce overworld mobs are in this game, they might as well all be passive...

It feels a bit like the main thing aggressive mobs achieve is constantly interrupting the zone BGM with the battle theme. :/

They act as gates to higher-level areas in ARR where it's physically possible to walk into the Lv50 area at Lv1, but the expansions are a lot more restricted by the story already.

Also, "highly dangerous" B-rank elite marks are left being the sole non-aggressive creatures in the entire zone.

[SavishSalacious]

None. I like my peaceful zones when gathering. I dont need a GW2 rip off or a EVE game. I want a FF game

[Raikai]

FATEs need to reward even more experience. Currently a FATE is equal a regular quest in ShB... But then, you can get a quest done 1/3 of a FATE completion time, plus they can be actually challenging for a solo player.
Better rewards for the hunts.

[Jirah]

Hostile environments, like when during lightning storms in The Lochs. It’s a small thing but it gives the area mystique

Also since flying is a thing you can only
do so much, not every area is Sea of Clouds