An ideal overworld zone

[Ath192]

Every day.



Im a maxed master crafter. Trust me when i say the overworld holds loads to keep me busy. FATES, sidequests, you name it. Have YOU done all the EW sidequests? I have.



Im maxed level on all jobs so mobs really arent an issue, but I do love wandering around , poking my nose into little nooks and crannies. I am out virtually every single day.

Not sure how the master crafter comes into play here. I'm glad you find the nooks and crannies interesting. I do too. I am working through all the sidequests but I would say I'm at 80% completion or so. I do enjoy those but find that when they send me out on those sidequests everything is more of a go to point A, go to point B, go to point C and there is no danger or anything that triggers that exciting or caution about having to be careful or pay attention to my environment. The only thing to look forward to is the bits of lore about the zone.

So mobs are irrelevant to you now. They are to me as well. So you'll notice that one of the requests here in this thread to find ways to make them interesting and relevant to people again. Kind of like Eureka Orthos where the mobs are always relevant regardless of what level you are.

As far as fates. While some of them have a bit of writing to them most of them I feel are very generic, and worse even most of them are just zerging them down when you are with others or solo them with minimal effort. I couldn't tell you of a single fate in recent memory that I cared enough to remember its name. This wasn't the case all the time though. 10 years later I remember "The Eyes Have it" in Coerthas because Steropes would straight delete you if you disrespected him, so this was an example of something interesting.

They do not have an strategy to approach them nor do at any moment I feel like I could be overpowered if I'm not paying attention to what is going on.

[Jojoya]

Thanks Ion, no thanks.

I honestly don't think that was Ion. I didn't think it was him at the time of the interview (considering Tom Chilton was still Game Director at that point) and I still don't think it was him. Ion was just acting as the mouthpiece for the dev team, just as Ghostcrawler did when he was still working for Blizzard.

I think that was Alex Afrasiabi, who was the Creator Director and the one pushing no flying in all the pre-WoD interviews. And I doubt I need to say any more about that individual to those who have been following Blizzard drama in recent years. Coincidence that flying stopped getting demonized after his suspension then departure? I don't think so.

I understand why some players prefer a dangerous world filled with creatures they are forced to fight (or at least find creative ways to avoid). But that's not the design direction the developers are taking with the game. If someone really wants to be on the ground, they have the option to do it. I did it myself on occasion in WoW when I had the time to spare and the interest to do so. I'd go RP walking up and down the length of the continents or even from one continent to another.

I'm not interested in forcing others to have to play the way I want to play, though. I want players to have options to choose from so they can create the best experience for themselves.

Not sure how the master crafter comes into play here.

The majority of the materials a crafter uses are sourced from the open world (or can be). That can even include the materials purchased with tomestones. Buying relic weapons is not the only reason players do hunts for tomestones. Gemstones make it easier to get the items that are creature drops.

Crafters who prefer to be self-sufficient as much as possible when it comes to obtaining materials are spending a lot of time in the open world.

[VelKallor]

Not sure how the master crafter comes into play here.

Mining, botany, fishing...where else do I get the mats from?:P Specially timed nodes , collectibles for scrips, custom turn ins....I am now running two airships AND a submarine with another sub soon to come, so believe me my gatherers have loads to do, plus I do a lot of endgame crafting, indagator's, the next set will be in 6,4 ( combat ), so i will be out and about yet again...this next 4 star set will be a real challenge I am REALLY looking forward to.

[Kyrj]

Ath192

Combat retainers are DIRECTLY tied to crafting, so what you suggest would CRIPPLE the entire process. MANUALLY attacking mobs for skins would take a HELL of a lot longer to get enough for ONE recipe, as the droprates are obscenely small.

When you need upwards of sixty or more leather to get enough scrip for crafting mats, a drop of maybe one skin or none from mobs will AGAIN, artificially expand gametime for no other reason than to make everything take longer.

Again: all I am seeing here is ways to make getting things done take longer, which is an OUT MODED and primitive gameplay design. The days of players taking hours to depopulate an entire zone and then wait for them to respawn is backwards and out of date.

Its 2004 design. Out of date. Archaic. Primitive by todays standards.

Its wasting time that could be spent doing other things.

This is 2023.

Games are made to respect players time, not to use up hours on a useless and pointless grind.

Then why aren't retainer ventures instant? Also you need to calm down.

[Ath192]

I honestly don't think that was Ion. I didn't think it was him at the time of the interview (considering Tom Chilton was still Game Director at that point) and I still don't think it was him. Ion was just acting as the mouthpiece for the dev team, just as Ghostcrawler did when he was still working for Blizzard.

I think that was Alex Afrasiabi, who was the Creator Director and the one pushing no flying in all the pre-WoD interviews. And I doubt I need to say any more about that individual to those who have been following Blizzard drama in recent years. Coincidence that flying stopped getting demonized after his suspension then departure? I don't think so.

I understand why some players prefer a dangerous world filled with creatures they are forced to fight (or at least find creative ways to avoid). But that's not the design direction the developers are taking with the game. If someone really wants to be on the ground, they have the option to do it. I did it myself on occasion in WoW when I had the time to spare and the interest to do so. I'd go RP walking up and down the length of the continents or even from one continent to another.

I'm not interested in forcing others to have to play the way I want to play, though. I want players to have options to choose from so they can create the best experience for themselves.


The majority of the materials a crafter uses are sourced from the open world (or can be). That can even include the materials purchased with tomestones. Buying relic weapons is not the only reason players do hunts for tomestones. Gemstones make it easier to get the items that are creature drops.

Crafters who prefer to be self-sufficient as much as possible when it comes to obtaining materials are spending a lot of time in the open world.

Yeah gathering makes more sense.

The problem is that being on the ground and having an engaging overworld are not the same thing. So being on the ground does nothing if the above topics aren’t addressed as a means to have an engaging experience in the environment.

Moreover I am for player choice most of the time but there is no choice here. There are no zones in the overworld like this for us that provide the same satisfaction the current brain dead zones provide for y’all. So in essence I feel like the argument being made here is more let’s deny you this and it’s one or the other, instead of allowing for player choice and providing those zones for players that do seek danger and adventure. You will see none of my examples imply mandatory things.

Wouldn’t a compromise better suit everyone? Where we can have our off the beaten path dangerous zones and our sense of exploration and adventure without getting hammered about it?

[GTK0HLK]

-snip-

I took it as them just enjoying the game as many do, and many do things differently.

I think youre looking into things too specifically in search of something that in this case isnt there..,

<sometimes it is, sometimes it isnt..,>
but I sense no hate for WoW in these threads so far. There be multiple ways to make a interactive open world..,

but not all roads can be followed..,

Just like infinite options or a Borderless map cannot always be a thing. only in some circumstances can it be.

[I think some are getting too personal.., but they responded to someone asking of they Personally interacted with the world. so thats pretty fair, and unfortunately makes your response disingenuous in this only instance]

While Id love alot of the Cooperation showcase within Eureka( and one who would spend days on end there helping others if I fancy at the time) to be partially expanded into the Natural Open World.

There wont always be anything for the casual, or hard-core, or the severely neglected Mid(core).

one segment may flock it, but another wont.

thread isnt getting anywhere as usual.

[what wont change, what can change, what could/shouldnt change, and what should be suggested?]

These last pages paint Aetherytes/ExpZone Local-rytes and flying as something that wont ever fade, so what can change or be given as a opt in activity?

[Mobs or enemies/encounters will go on forever, so lets just leave it at, if its set correctly itll work, if not itll fail and piss of all players. Be they Stats, Spawn/Setup like Eureka NMs, or etc]

There could be grown in terms of like the Enclave. but there would have to be reasons to do so.

Shared Fates are similar, but you dont actually see visual changes, you just get told the land/locality is more stable/less hostile to locals.

[Ath192]

I took it as them just enjoying the game as many do, and many do things differently.

I think youre looking into things too specifically in search of something that in this case isnt there..,

<sometimes it is, sometimes it isnt..,>
but I sense no hate for WoW in these threads so far. There be multiple ways to make a interactive open world..,

but not all roads can be followed..,

Just like infinite options or a Borderless map cannot always be a thing. only in some circumstances can it be.

[I think some are getting too personal.., but they responded to someone asking of they Personally interacted with the world. so thats pretty fair, and unfortunately makes your response disingenuous in this only instance]

While Id love alot of the Cooperation showcase within Eureka( and one who would spend days on end there helping others if I fancy at the time) to be partially expanded into the Natural Open World.

There wont always be anything for the casual, or hard-core, or the severely neglected Mid(core).

one segment may flock it, but another wont.

thread isnt getting anywhere as usual.

[what wont change, what can change, what could/shouldnt change, and what should be suggested?]

These last pages paint Aetherytes/ExpZone Local-rytes and flying as something that wont ever fade, so what can change or be given as a opt in activity?

[Mobs or enemies/encounters will go on forever, so lets just leave it at, if its set correctly itll work, if not itll fail and piss of all players. Be they Stats, Spawn/Setup like Eureka NMs, or etc]

There could be grown in terms of like the Enclave. but there would have to be reasons to do so.

Shared Fates are similar, but you dont actually see visual changes, you just get told the land/locality is more stable/less hostile to locals.

Your response is structured so weird the last song to the nier raids started playing when I read it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qmU6...nel=hungrychad


Edit:
nvm you fixed it.

[SaltyDaddy]

To me the ffxiv overworld is obsolete. Not only does it feel ridiculously small thanks to all the teleportation points but its even made completely ignorable thanks to flying.

However, more so than point out what is wrong with it I'd like to point out what would make me like it.

True, but nothing you suggested fixes that.

For one the current mobs they may as well delete. To really convey a sense of adventure/danger mobs should be dangerous enough that you wouldn't want to engage with them, but you could beat if it came down to it. This causes you to navigate areas in a more calculated way. To me the best tuned mobs for this aren't Eureka's, it's actually Orthos/DDs. Those mobs are all beatable, but you wouldn't necessarily want to engage them unless you had a reason to.

This alone would automatically make zones a million times more interesting to navigate instead of boring me to sleep.

Eh, no? You just dont engage with them. Problem solved. You only said "make em harder", but do we have reason to fight with them now? And why would we want to do so if they were harder?

Then, we would need quests that would give us reasons to travel the land on foot or by mount. It could be transportation delivery quests or retrieval quests that weigh you down as an explanation why you can't fly and make a snooze fest out of everything. an easy currency that you can accrue to purchase cosmetics for these types of quests would be plenty of entertainment.

How the hell would you want to do that? Also, they would be just boring fetch quest without flying. Nothing new to the game

The game could also stand to gain remote areas that have either small villages/ shrines /locations that are not accessible by teleports or flying, the journey which is also paved with these dangerous mobs and the NPCs in said locations could sell unique wares that are expensive and act as gil sinks.

So you get there once and never more

Another example that would be interesting is that these shrines or points of interest could contain unique buffs that would not break the game but make the pilgrimage worth it for those seeking adventure. Say one of the shrines upon reaching it and receiving its blessing your gear no longer wears down for 48 hours causing you to need to repair it. I can see this being of use to raiders before savage and they could easily party up to make the journey safer. These would be overworld zones, just off beat paths. Not instanced.

Other examples could be one making all your teleports free for an X amount of time, another increasing movement speed outside instances, negating fall damage in the overworld even during combat or exploration zones like Eureka.

Eh, no? How does that bring something to overworld? And buff lowering teleport prices trully helps people engage with overworld.

Not a single idea was original and "Holy shit, that would want me to play more in overworld. Gratz. Very usefull thread. I give you the best possible suggestion. Give Guild Wars 2 a chance. That game have one of the best possible living wolrd you can find. Its my favourite part of that game. And once you try meta events, you will never be satisfied with fates.

FF14 current world are dead. You take flying from people and then you make it the worst world in any MMO. Empty and boring to travel.

[Vyrerus]

It'd be cool if in 7.0 we go to somewhere so distant from Eorzea that the ambient aether doesn't allow for aether currents, thus we cannot unlock flying there (Or perhaps only let players fly on a cooldown, like Sprint).

There's definitely both a player and a developer desire for the open world to be more meaningful. And they can do that by adding new areas where that's part of their lore and gimmick.

Surely y'all remember the starting cart ride in FFXIV? Eorzea is supposed to be so aether dense that it inflicts aether sickness on a lot of people. The implication being that places that aren't Eorzea do not have aether like that. Yet, every expansion we go somewhere else, and there is exactly zero reference to that. Even as far as Othard, and everything is exactly the same. No difficulty casting spells or using skills.

Probably one of the hardest thrown away world building points out of everything in FFXIV.

Also, as far as the FFXI talk from the first couple of pages goes... The only time you had to even think about being careful around monsters was when they were True Sight / True Sound, or if they were aggressive and you didn't have Sneak/Invisible items/spells. A lot of traversing the overworld in FFXI was simply cloaking yourself, so you didn't have to be careful. We still don't have any items like that in XIV, though they wouldn't be out of the realm of possibility (see Sylph cloaking spells from Beastmen quests).

It would be incredibly cool in the next expansion if we got areas where we had to team up in the overworld just to traverse them with any measure of safety. I'm sure they'd still put aethereytes at the end of them, but it would be so cool if there was a reason to team up to travel.

I have fond memories of traveling through Cape Riverne in an 18 person alliance back in FFXI. Either dodging or dogpiling the true sight Hippogryphs.

There are so many systems in FFXIV that could be used in conjunction with gameplay for groups, but they just aren't because there's no content that isn't centered around convenience. Even raiding is just boss fights, because "trash" monsters are inconvenient.

This game could use some old spice.

[VeyaAkemi]

If you really enjoy overworld because of fates and sidequests... I dunno what to tell you. When was the last time you tried some test of mental health?

Not gonna lie, while Vel is definitely coming off as passionate to a fault, implying someone has mental illness because they enjoy something you can't enjoy is just as cringe.