What would it take for you to like field content it you don’t currently like it?

[Toutatis]

The other thing I don't like about these zones is part of the social aspect. Yes, people would chat in them but what else are you going to do during the down time

The only chat I’ve ever seen in Bozja was “lfg z1/2/3”, “rez pls” and “when was CLL”. I agree on what you said about the spawn conditions. When I was soloing because it was ghost town, it was particularly tedious to have to do all the work and kill a bunch of mobs just to get things to happen or the map would remain empty. Some randomness would have been nice.

[Rein_eon_Osborne]

So run CLL and Dal to get more essences to…run CLL and Dal?

To me, having to return to Bozja and Zadnor to farm essences to just to run some content kills it entirely. Not going to do it. I’d be happy to be able to access CLL and Dal just for fun without having to wait in the zone.

Why limit yourself with using CLL/Dal items to run CLL/Dal?

There are plenty other combinations of essences and actions that doesn't use CLL/Dal items. They're also far from useless either, and plenty can be more flexible in its usage too. Bloodsucker/Beast are moot when used on its own because Potion Kit exist and can be farmed over 100+ in under 23 minutes. Deep Essence are merely 20% more potent than its basic version. Most of my CLL/Dal runs rarely even incorporate the use of those CLL/Dal items and I'm still an able asset in every runs I'm in.

Rewarding us with a tradeable fragments gives us the option to use it ourselves or to sell it. What else you're going to run CLL/Dal for if you turn those items into one-time acquisition & already cleared all ShB relics outside maybe helping friends?

[Toutatis]

Why limit yourself with using CLL/Dal items to run CLL/Dal?

There are plenty other combinations of essences and actions that doesn't use CLL/Dal items. They're also far from useless either, and plenty can be more flexible in its usage too. Bloodsucker/Beast are moot when used on its own because Potion Kit exist and can be farmed over 100+ in under 23 minutes. Deep Essence are merely 20% more potent than its basic version.

i also commented about gathering essences in Bozja/Zadnor: farming in not fun. To me having to do that is a deterrent (not an incentive) to running CLL/Dal and Delubrum.

[Iscah]

Another thing – which to my awareness they still need to do for Bozja now to boost participation rates – is increase the drop rate of memory crystals from skirmishes and reward some from Castrum, so it's more efficient to be in there than out in Dravania doing FATEs.

[Rein_eon_Osborne]

i also commented about gathering essences in Bozja/Zadnor: farming in not fun. To me having to do that is a deterrent (not an incentive) to running CLL/Dal and Delubrum.

I see. I did not read that part so that’s on me.

I feel the exact opposite in that regard because that’s one of the reason why I keep coming back & to enjoy the content. Farm for myself & maybe friends, then sell the excess for profit via MB. Take that away then that’s one less reason for me to go back.

[SannaR]

The only chat I’ve ever seen in Bozja was “lfg z1/2/3”, “rez pls” and “when was CLL”. I agree on what you said about the spawn conditions. When I was soloing because it was ghost town, it was particularly tedious to have to do all the work and kill a bunch of mobs just to get things to happen or the map would remain empty. Some randomness would have been nice.

Yeah, I'd get those days too. But in Eureka at least you'd occasionally get some idle banter that could get a lil weird or silly or a tad uh risqué. Kind of like the stuff you'd get while farming the Diadem during Ishgardian Restoration. That and when Bozja and Zadnor were still fresh or semi current you could get some people asking questions that wasn't just what you said. This of course was before everyone figured out that doing activities outside of the zones was a faster way to get the items you needed for almost every step. Only until the late stages did they change it where doing DR and Del would give you a better yield than hoping PotD or whatever other method you chose might bless you with a drop. I do believe that when people say they missed or liked the social aspect they really only mean seeing a lot more people as even when you have a bunch of people waiting for a pull time for an SS rank or rare fate boss spawn you don't really see much talk that if any. Or if there is banter it normally is about asking for a party or what the PL time is. This game's population isn't overly chatty as even in things like Alliance Raid its rare to see anyone strike up a conversation that's not about the activity you're doing. Not to say that those conversations can't be fun to read or partake in.

[sindriiisgaming]

just more to do than allways killing fates and grinding light. maybe like using my crafters ot make some kinda artillery.. or using my gatherers to gather scraps off the map. maybe using mounts to do combat.

[hobostew]

I don't think every content has to be catered to everyone and that includes things like "exploratory content". It's probably better to make content be both optional and as good as it can be for the people that do like it so people who don't like it can just ignore it and the ones that do can have a really good time.

I remember when people swore up and down that the only reason they hated F.A.T.E.s was that they were too easy and if they made F.A.T.E.s harder they would absolutely do them. So they increased the HP values and damage and just like that F.A.T.E. grinding and by extension the overworld died. SE has been trying to recapture that feeling of shared world/experience since then with various iterations and each time compromising the content in order to try to appeal to everyone. I really feel like the right play might just be to not bother. If you don't like this type of content then just don't do it. ezpz

[Vrankyl]

I agree with the sentiments others have shared. It just being a mass FATE grind is... meh at best, but yeah my requirements would be:

1) Make it actually deserve the name 'Exploratory' - Currently there really is nothing exploratory to it. As others have mentioned, you don't earn anything out of exploring and the only real reward is grinding the FATEs and the CEs.
2) Make Lost Actions/Logos Actions permanent - This is just so tedious. I can see maybe keeping the stance ones the way they are because they are just potions but the actual abilities should be permanent. Actively bringing the group down because you just don't have the RNG luck to get the right actions or the gil to afford purchasing the items to just mass try at getting the actions is not fun at all.
3) Make them actual zones and not instances - There is nothing more boring and tedious than FATE farming ad nauseum without a way to break it up properly. When I do my bicolor gemstones I queue for things as a DPS that I know will take a while to pop. This way I can multi-task.
4) More objectives - Let us do something other than just farm FATEs in the content for experience and Relic materials. If Devs really do look at other MMOs for ideas look at ESO and WoW. Do treasure maps with just a picture from an avatar based PoV. Have rare hidden things the way Timeless Isle in WoW did.
5) Make it Solo friendly - Bozja is a lot better about this than Eureka was, but it still falls flat because it becomes soooooo painfully slow when solo. This not only makes it easier on people who may not want to group with others for whatever reason that day, but helps to future proof the content.
6) NO MORE DEATH PENALTIES - Seriously, the EQ age of MMOs is gone. Come back to the modern world and remove this ridiculous exp/mettle loss upon death penalty. It isn't fun, it doesn't add anything to the content besides annoying and frustrating people, and it prevents future proofing. Seriously, there's a reason why games have moved away from this mechanic. Time to come out of the dark ages of gaming.

[Jojoya]

I don't think every content has to be catered to everyone and that includes things like "exploratory content". It's probably better to make content be both optional and as good as it can be for the people that do like it so people who don't like it can just ignore it and the ones that do can have a really good time.

I remember when people swore up and down that the only reason they hated F.A.T.E.s was that they were too easy and if they made F.A.T.E.s harder they would absolutely do them. So they increased the HP values and damage and just like that F.A.T.E. grinding and by extension the overworld died. SE has been trying to recapture that feeling of shared world/experience since then with various iterations and each time compromising the content in order to try to appeal to everyone. I really feel like the right play might just be to not bother. If you don't like this type of content then just don't do it. ezpz

That seems to be the problem. Not enough people like the content so they aren't doing it once there are no rewards left that they want. Those who like the content aren't finding enough others to keep the zones active so they're looking for ways to attract others back into them.

Players have become too reward focused. If they aren't getting a "proper" reward for the time spent, they aren't interested. Criterion is an excellent example of this. The content itself has had good response. The rewards haven't and so players don't bother with it.

It's not a problem unique to this game but FFXIV lacks the heavy RNG reward systems that other MMORPGs use to drag out content longevity. It's good in that players generally don't have to wait years to get that one neat item they want. It's bad in that players with more time to play run out of things they want to do faster. There are the occasional players like Supersnow that love a piece of content for its own sake and not the reward but they're the exception.

If you want a quick way to get players back into Eureka and Bozja, add in new rewards that they want and won't be able to get through other methods. It would only be a short term fix since they'd quit doing the content once they got those rewards but those zones would be very busy for a while.