Please dont bring back Relic Quest Zones

[Atelier-Bagur]

It's not completely accurate. I love MMOs. I dislike Eureka and Bozja for the experience I'm looking for in this game. I played EverQuest. I had my epic on at least 2 characters that I can remember but I think it was closer to 3 or 4. That was months of dedicated work and required high level raiding in that game. Eureka and Bozja hearken back to the old school experience of MMOs of that era where there were specific areas in a zone where players parked in groups and camped and grinded. They really tried that with Anemos where grouping was what everyone did until they discovered the FATE train. Then SE tried to kill the FATE train in Pagos.

But I dislike these zones because that's not the experience I'm looking for in XIV. I want something that is more accessible to interact with at my own pace and per my own preferences. There's a reason I say that I played EverQuest and it's not still play. I love tackling different content. I just want the freedom to tackle it when I want to, to the level that I want to, and with decent rewards for my time expended. My epics in EverQuest were great and useful but looking back now I really don't know that they were worth spending that much of my free time on. I just didn't know there were other options until MMOs started coming out that broke away from the idea of games of that generation. MMOs nowadays are a much different genre and throwbacks are fine, but they need to keep in mind the changing face of MMOs and how to appeal to more than just a niche group of players.

First of all, I feel that this is a good counter argument against Eureka and Bozja because of the fact that people who enjoyed old school MMO experiences would most likely still find FFXIV's exploratory zones lackluster in general. I've mentioned my criticism before but again, the main issue behind Eureka and Bozja is that there's not much else going on with its design. Its so open-faced in its grind unlike say classic World of Warcraft or Everquest or OSRS where they dress up those grinds with various activities and options to approach its progression that it feels like a game. Eureka and Bozja DOES NOT feel like a game, its feels like a long chore and I understand that this is such a hard pill to swallow but monotonous grinds should not be the standard for MMO content.

Look at it this way, Baldur's Gate 3 the newest most praised rpg on the market right now. Its hailed as a meaty, comprehensive return to form of what rpg enthusiasts desperately sought for. Guess what it lacks? long boring grinds or battle passes to pad out the content for the sake of player retention. Did you need to grind levels in BG3? No. Did you need to slowly churn the same boring activity to get to the good parts? No.

We can also look at another classic game; Chrono Trigger where the game lacked the need for grinds, it was short, it was paced incredibly well and you always moved forward rather than staying stuck in 1000. A.D for levels just to get to next area.

I know. These two games Ive listed arent MMOs but most of us are no longer little kids whom had all the time in the world with little responsibility, we're grown adults likely with families and jobs and very little time to game; and I think the future of MMOs is to move past obvious retention systems just to keep us subbed. Am I saying that current FFXIV is doing this part well? Ehhh...I mean, not really? There's some content that could've used more cooking in the oven or more meat in its bones but at the very least its taking that step in the right direction.