Lackluster Graphics in FFXIV

[Abriael]

Take Limsa Lominsa. It's very cold and bland in this state... too GREY around. When i saw for the first time the art of it, i imagined it with Santorini colors (and maybe some mosaics on walls), lights from the sea surface in the night and trees around also from the water (i presume a sort of mangroves), like the above image suggests:

That's a matter of art direction, not of graphics. Limsa is basically a pirate cove. Pirates aren't exactly known for their artistic exploits. Also, the grey cliffs do have a nice effect. They pick up lovely hues with sunset/sunrise (and even night actually) light conditions.

Concluding, some areas need a restyling about colors and details, adding stuff (flora, fauna, objects) to make the enviroment more alive... not so cold and sometimes 'artificial'. I don't like to make comparisons usually, but FF11 was FULL of warm and details in every corner. Why FF14 is sadly a (long) step backward in this departement? Btw i have still faith and hope devs will make something about it in the future..

Might really want to polish your FFXI memories a little. Try to remember Bastok. It was basically the same as Limsa. Actually even much worse, due to the much smaller presence of water and vegetation.

It is, by the way, a pretty common problem with MMORPGs. Since almost no team designs all the areas at once, areas designed first tend to be less impressive than those designed later, as the team starts to pick up the style and the art direction of the game, and becomes more confident with the tools.
You can also look at Coerthas and Mor Donha. They look a TON more beautiful (and less monotonous) than Thanlanan, Black Shroud and La Norsca.

Your PC is very good. Believe me, if I didn't have to buy this I'd be upgrading my system every generation.

I didn't say it's bad, but it's definitely not near the top as well. Currently it's pretty much a mid-range gaming PC. I built my girlfriend an identical setup (just changing the motherboard because she wasn't interested in a future SLI expansion) for 800 bucks.