How could the developers destroyed Tural like this?

[Gaddes]

Lack of open houses, Shaloaani had like 10 houses closed for 1 open? Lack of immersion, lazyness from devs, the world doesnt feel alive for it's size.

Game design wise the open world is just a vehicle for MSQ, nothing happens there.

And they used to have at least some of this, but lost it along the way. As an example I would present the Lambs of Dalamud stronghold in Northern Thanalan, with its little cul-de-sac area that was actually held by a hostile faction you would have to fight your way through, and its chains of story wise connected FATEs that made you really feel that this cult activity and stronghold was a whole actual thing going on right there in the zone map. But instead of refining the concept (like GW2 did), they abandoned it. In current zones, DoW/DoM leve quests that involve doing something in the zone map are no longer a thing at all, and if there are FATE chains, they only serve the purpose of spawning an S rank for the Hunt and go all over the zone map instead of highlighting one particular thing going on in one particular place of interest.

To be fair. None of the zones are very immersive. All the assets in the area of all the zones feel like a prop in a fun house.

That's something the game lacks. An actual threat and sense of discovery and adventure in the open world. Would be great if you had to explore inside a tomb or dungeon in the open world without access to a mount. Battle your way through beastman strongholds. Find open world treasure, ect. Everything is just instanced.

Agreed with all of these. I didn't realize it until reading this thread, but the single biggest problem with the Dawntrail zones is that they don't feel like living, breathing areas. Each location is literally crafted to be viewed during your MSQ progression and then doesn't do much outside of that. If you try to explore the maps, so much is open empty space with the same mobs, and none of it tells a "story." Compare that to the maps in ARR and HW, where you could go exploring and see elements in the environment that actually gave you clues as to who lives or lived there, what might've occurred there, or were subtle visual references to lore that wasn't just spoonfed to you via an exposition dump. Places that hint at something more and make you want to delve into what their significance is, because they don't just lead you to each spot for a quest or something. You know you did an area right when someone walks through it and wonders "hm.. what happened here..?"

The ruins of Gelmorra, the mun tuy cellars in the Shroud... the various ruins of New Sharlayan in the Hinterlands... the underwater ruins of Il Mheg... the underwater bubble settlements in the Ruby Sea... there are a lot visual stories in the nooks and crannies of past expansions' maps that I just don't see enough of in Dawntrail, and so it really doesn't entice someone to stick around in an environment like that.

I would very much like to see future zones that have that kind of natural storytelling in them, rather than just being used like a Disneyland attraction where you go from one isolated spot to another and then never return.