Ghosttown's and stupid mobs

[MissPagen]

I have now almost played the game to level 80 - my first level 80. I really found the game exciting, but something that has been a bit strange throughout my leveling is; - that even though the world is full of mobs and NPCs and despite a really nice weather system, the world seems dead all over! The mobs stand still on the same spot or move only a few steps around, Even though a mob is killed 1 inch away from another mob, that mob don't respond at all! When you fly up in the sky and look down, you can see mobs scattered around for miles, but still it feels almost lifeless! Towns in general are often ghosttown, i was so exited to visit Ishgard, a really cool citadel; - but again.... dead! Today there is maby 100 npc in the main city's, but there should be thousands of npc's in all the main cities, and mobs roaming the area outside; - some mobs roaming in pact's; - even stealthed mobs from time to time, that would be scary to level up alone. Even if places around the world of the game is empty of players(IRL), nothing should feel empty or ghosted! Even if I was the only player on the server, the city's had to be buzzing with people(NPC) and their deeds.

I'm sure there will be more with a different opinion, others who think's the game is 100% perfect, but this is MY opinion; - my experience. I have taken my time in the game and have already played several hundred hours; - so I have a bit of experience and at the same time, a little fresh eyes on the game.

Final Fantasy XIV has otherwise taken me by storm, what a fantastic game and what a fantastic gripping story. Final Fantasy XIV is a wonderful experience, but is certainly not perfect; - and it probably never will be either. I look forward to the 'endgame', waiting anxiously to be surprised; - everyone says that this is where the fun starts!

Sorry I posted here but apparently did not have rights to post in: Website Feedback & Suggestions

[Sotaris]

Ishgard feels dead cause it never was a hub and HW is like 6 years old content. You also need to progress through ARR to just get to it.
Kugane and kinda dead for same reason, old content and not a hub.

This is why Mor Dhona, Crystalirum, Eulmore still feels active (and the starting cities for other obvious reasons)


Sidenote though, I go there a lot cause I like the place.

[Evergrey]

This is pretty common in a lot of MMOs. Once people have progressed and outleved an area it comes more or less irrelevant and no use to visit it unless due to farming materials.
And it's for this very reason I enjoy ESO as much as I do.
As they scale each zone with the player no zone becomes irrelevant due to levels and everything is can be gathered everywhere.
So people are free to go anywhere they feel like whenever.
I can find myself just traveling around different maps due to what I wanna experience at the moment.
This isn't something a level-based zones game really can do.
As once you're done there the game doesn't really give you much reasons to go back.
I think more MMOs should give scaling a chance.
But not all MMOs are built with that in mind so ofc it wouldn't work for all.

That the game world feels more or less lifeless is a more tricky thing to do in an MMO.
My take on FFXIVs zones is that they were better back in ARR when flying wasn't a thing.
The maps weren't as big, but they had more character and were fleshed out a lot more.
Now with flying the zones gotta be bigger to compensate the traveling speed of flying.
But with the bigger zones they have (imo) become less fleshed out.
There are big "flat" areas with little to it then some rocks and trees perhaps.
And one can clearly see the reuse of textures on the ground and surroundings.
Really makes it hard to enjoy the view then (imo).
Not gonna say that all zones since HW has been like this.
But there is a clear difference from ARR zones and past ones.

[Gabadabs]

Pretty much the standard in any MMO that releases expac after expac - people move on from older content. If there's nothing keeping people in a hub city, like in Ishgard, then people move on. It's unfortunate but to get people back they'd have to find good reasons to make the zones relevant again.
In terms of the static NPC's and stupid mobs, I always kind of blamed that on engine limitations, although I have no idea if that's true.

[kaynide]

You're not wrong here. A lot of what I love in Guildwars 2 is that there is random actual voiced chatter as you roam the map/town. Like, there's a guided tour going on in one of the hubs that you could theoretically follow the NPC group and learn something.

There are kids that play tag and run around; there are people that actually have fairly elaborate errands they do. There are also "critters" (level 0, 1 hp animals) like seagulls or rats that just wander around adding life.

Ultimately, it's unnecessary to play the game.. but man it makes a difference.

[Evergrey]

You're not wrong here. A lot of what I love in Guildwars 2 is that there is random actual voiced chatter as you roam the map/town. Like, there's a guided tour going on in one of the hubs that you could theoretically follow the NPC group and learn something.

There are kids that play tag and run around; there are people that actually have fairly elaborate errands they do. There are also "critters" (level 0, 1 hp animals) like seagulls or rats that just wander around adding life.

Ultimately, it's unnecessary to play the game.. but man it makes a difference.

Oh yeah, critters.
Insignificant but they do bring life to the wildlife which otherwise is only based on hostile mobs.

[MissPagen]

You're not wrong here. A lot of what I love in Guildwars 2 is that there is random actual voiced chatter as you roam the map/town. Like, there's a guided tour going on in one of the hubs that you could theoretically follow the NPC group and learn something.

There are kids that play tag and run around; there are people that actually have fairly elaborate errands they do. There are also "critters" (level 0, 1 hp animals) like seagulls or rats that just wander around adding life.

Ultimately, it's unnecessary to play the game.. but man it makes a difference.

Spot ON. :-)

[Lunalepsy]

I have now almost played the game to level 80 - my first level 80. I really found the game exciting, but something that has been a bit strange throughout my leveling is; - that even though the world is full of mobs and NPCs and despite a really nice weather system, the world seems dead all over! The mobs stand still on the same spot or move only a few steps around, Even though a mob is killed 1 inch away from another mob, that mob do respond at all! When you fly up in the sky and look down, you can see mobs scattered around for miles, but still it feels almost lifeless! Towns in general are often ghosttown, i was so exited to visit Ishgard, a really cool citadel; - but again.... dead! Today there is maby 100 people in the main city's, but there should be thousands of people in all the main cities, and mobs roaming the area outside; - some mobs roaming in pact's; - even stealthed mobs from time to time, that would be scary to level up alone.

I'm sure there will be more with a different opinion, others who think's the game is 100% perfect, but this is MY opinion; - my experience. I have taken my time in the game and have already played several hundred hours; - so I have a bit of experience and at the same time, a little fresh eyes on the game.

Final Fantasy XIV has otherwise taken me by storm, what a fantastic game and what a fantastic gripping story. Final Fantasy XIV is a wonderful experience, but is certainly not perfect; - and it probably never will be either. I look forward to the 'endgame', waiting anxiously to be surprised; - everyone says that this is where the fun starts!

Sorry I posted here but apparently did not have rights to post in: Website Feedback & Suggestions

FFXIV is one big lobby.

[Derio]

Ishgard feels alive due to all the new players and the firmament. Idyllshire feels alive because most people go there for Khloe and other things. Crystarium can feel very very dead due to it not being a endgame hub, same for Kugane.

Mobs are line of sight. If you want tough mobs go to Eureka or Bozja. The regular areas are mainly for leveling.

[Derio]

Maybe once PS4 support is dropped can we get more elaborate towns, wildlife, etc.

PS4 is not the limitation. That falls on server side. Hopefully they raise the minimum PC specs to PS4 this expansion.