FFXIV needs a reason to use classes outside of roulette.. ie better open world

[Wasselin]

I've played GW2 a while ago and don't see how it's really that different from FATEs. I think FFXIV does an okay job at open world. I'm grinding FATEs right now to finish the SharedFATEs and I see people doing that with me. When I'm out gathering I see people also gathering alongside me. And of course there are hunts, which I assume people are doing since I see the messages about the ranked monsters.

I think they've got the right mix right now. Open World content is fun, but it's always kind of superficial. You see other people but the ways you interact with them isn't as deep as in an instance dungeon, trial or raid.

[Raskbuck]

I've played GW2 a while ago and don't see how it's really that different from FATEs. I think FFXIV does an okay job at open world. I'm grinding FATEs right now to finish the SharedFATEs and I see people doing that with me. When I'm out gathering I see people also gathering alongside me. And of course there are hunts, which I assume people are doing since I see the messages about the ranked monsters.

I think they've got the right mix right now. Open World content is fun, but it's always kind of superficial. You see other people but the ways you interact with them isn't as deep as in an instance dungeon, trial or raid.

I think the appeal of GW2 is the whole collect-a-thon aspect, more than the "FATEs" themselves. In that game, the UI conveys clearly all the small tasks that have to be done before completing a map, and it extends beyond just doing mindless events. It also helps that the game rewards you for exploration, finding chests and jumping puzzles if you check every corner of the world.

FFXIV, on the other hand, has more obscure side activities that are not displayed very clearly in the game. Just to name an example, all the vistas in the game are obfuscated with small hints, and the average player will likely just find the answer from a third party. It makes the whole process more cumbersome, as opposed to just showing you where the vistas are on the map.

Ultimately, I think my biggest gripe with XIV's open world content is how laughably easy it is. There's no danger or challenges to overcome, and there's no incentive to grind or get better gear; unless you are min-maxing hunts for some bizarre reason (and even then, they mostly boil down to a mindless zerg).

[Melorie]

I think the appeal of GW2 is the whole collect-a-thon aspect, more than the "FATEs" themselves. In that game, the UI conveys clearly all the small tasks that have to be done before completing a map, and it extends beyond just doing mindless events. It also helps that the game rewards you for exploration, finding chests and jumping puzzles if you check every corner of the world.

True, also if you've played part of the endgame or the expansions, you have meta events that you really need all the players to go and do in order to succeed, and these events are a way of getting better gear/working towards relics/collectibles/farm money. The world bosses are also more varied and visually impacting imo.
Really, if you're playing GW2 chances are you're somewhere in some map doing something. You're also rewarded for exploring the whole map and some maps are not easy to do so... It's really a great open-world design, one of if not the best in the industry.

That being said, I don't think that FFXIV should try to be GW2, but since it got so much inspiration from WoW themeparkish style, I wish it could get inspired by other games as well... Bozja was a step in the right direction but still, it's an instanced content.

You see other people but the ways you interact with them isn't as deep as in an instance dungeon, trial or raid.

I can count on my fingers how many times I interact with people while doing roulettes. If you're trying extremes and recent content then yes, but otherwise... Still on the GW2 example, there had to be a good deal of communication in certain meta events there. If it's challenging and bring a lot of people together, you'll get people interacting. You have an entire community built around hunts and hunt trains, even though it's not a well-elaborated content.
Open-world content wouldn't really make the current content stop existing anyway.

[Roda]

I've played GW2 a while ago and don't see how it's really that different from FATEs. I think FFXIV does an okay job at open world. I'm grinding FATEs right now to finish the SharedFATEs and I see people doing that with me. When I'm out gathering I see people also gathering alongside me. And of course there are hunts, which I assume people are doing since I see the messages about the ranked monsters.

I think they've got the right mix right now. Open World content is fun, but it's always kind of superficial. You see other people but the ways you interact with them isn't as deep as in an instance dungeon, trial or raid.

Just compare bozja to Drizzlewood coast.
Both pieces of content meant to evoke the feeling of being in a warzone, pushing into enemy territory and sieging their main base at the end of it.
One is a rewarding experience filled with narrative and map-wide cooperation, where even just getting around feels like you could trip over a skirmish at any step. The other has you running around waiting for circles to appear on the mostly featureless map with no tactical reasoning and hoping you'll get there in time, or grinding on a mob spawn cluster for drops to make other parts more engaging/possible. (Bozja, it's bozja that has you whack-a-moling events that just pop up out of nowhere in a featureless patch of dirt)