Feature Request: First Time Visit = No Map.

[Cairdeas]

I guess I'm one of the few who actually has Kazham memorized and can go to any point on the map without opening the map...

[DeadRiser]

still a "pointlessly hard" request though. People can get lost pretty easy and then some if not all the "hardcore" will just look up ffxiv on wiki to get the map and print it out. My ex b/f had a book of all the maps he printed out for both WoW abd ffxi. And we still got lost and died alot.

Also yes you can get lost in Eorzea, I've done it. The maps are vague and sometimes a pathway isn't the a pathway.

Who cares? It's still fun to get lost sometimes. Doesn't mean I'm gonna pansy out and look for a map online. This game needs some type of wonder and adventure to it, and people are just going against it.

[Munba]

If they make zones with more unique elements, we could also recognize every part of the area without consulting the map after we visited it more and more times (like in the real world). And that would be neat.

[Wynn]

If areas were more unique I would fully support this idea. In XI I can log in after months of being away and know exactly where I am in a zone just by looking around. Can't do that in XIV and I doubt we ever will be able to.

[Xenor]

Who cares? It's still fun to get lost sometimes. Doesn't mean I'm gonna pansy out and look for a map online. This game needs some type of wonder and adventure to it, and people are just going against it.

You have to remember that the majority of these forums are easy mode gamers who want everything handed to them on a silver platter. Most of the threads on here follow that format and it's why FFXIV is the easiest MMO on the market. Unfortunately that's just as off putting as a game that sucks.

[RexSkyborn]

{yes, please}

What's the point of having a big online world to explore, if it's already been explored for you on a map?

[Wynn]

{yes, please}

What's the point of having a big online world to explore, if it's already been explored for you on a map?

What's the point of exploring when everything looks the same?

[BoltNixter]

In FFXIV, there's no sense of wonder because you can just scroll around on your map and also, as we all know, there isn't anything either tangible or intangible in our future at the moment. It's like, so what if I go into this cave? - l know there are no treasure chests or Notorious Monsters in there, so I might as well not bother. Besides the gratuitous joy of seeing a copy-pasted cave, there's just no point to it all.

In my opinion, an MMORPG is more than an adventure, it's an escape from the real world. So it should stand on its own as a fantasy reality where every player can play his own role (see mmo ROLE playing game) in the world. A spirit of adventure comes with the territory, because as long as there is something to work toward, new horizons to be met, there will always be that sense of wonder, of how you can change and experience the world.

Even though I don't really agree with FFXI as an ideal MMO, it was pretty immersive in the adventure-sense. Some of the areas were pretty crappy, like that swamp area and that forest with the copy pasted trees the whole way through on the way to Jeuno, but for the most part, every area was rich in side-routes and underground lairs, beastman citadels, etc. You pretty much couldn't go an entire zone without wondering where those places lead to, and of course you couldn't cheat by looking at your map.

I guess my point is, the thing that works in FFXI is the progression onto better things (starter cities -> Valkrum -> other cities -> Jeuno -> Quifm -> Getting your airship License ... etc) which gave you a direction in the world. You were generally asking "what next?" all the way to lvl 75. And even after. In FFXIV, there is nothing to look forward to, and no questions to ask besides "how do i work this insufferable UI?"

And the whole concept of having to buy or find maps made a lot of sense (because it forced players to get to know the area) and you didnt know what was coming. FFXIV seems to be way too straight forward and impersonal. The world is massive but it feels tiny. Everything is shown to you, and yet you dont want to look at it. And while there are some cool things to find (like the ala'mihgo encampment at thanalan) nothing is impressive enough to warrant exploring the world..

The map situation comes into the equation here too because not knowing where you are going heightens that sense of adventure. Unlike FFXI, in FFXIV, it's all there right before your eyes, and it's not exactly the most enticing thing to look at. Although everyone can download a map online, it's different when you're in game and don't know you're way around. Automatically having your maps kind of ruins that coupled feeling of danger & excitement when encountering something new.

So, convenience isn't always the best remedy. The developers think that anima and levequests are the solution to what made FFXI undesirable for many players (those that wanted a more casual game), but they don't realise what they have to sacrifice to maintain these features.

Being able to instantly teleport anywhere destroys the vastness of the world they've sought to create. At the present time, given the state of the world and lack of chocobos, I wouldn't trade in the anima system for anything, but the point is: you can't have immersion and convenience together, not really. If they had chocobos, maybe they could place greater restrictions on anima usage. But until then, I don't forsee a solution to this issue. It's a case of balance, immersion vs. convenience. They just haven't struck the right balance yet and won't be able to until they introduce more methods of transportation.


If you want to accommodate the casual crowd, that's fine, but you don't have to pander to the carebears. There I said it.

Exactly! Great minds think alike!

[Jynx]

What's the point of exploring when everything looks the same?

You obviously have not actually explored the map yet, it's not as Copy/paste as people say it is. There are alot of unique things to find aside from the terrain. Hell I spent a good few hours in Mor Dhona finding the perfect spot to get a snapshot of the tower in the center.

[Wynn]

You obviously have not actually explored the map yet, it's not as Copy/paste as people say it is. There are alot of unique things to find aside from the terrain. Hell I spent a good few hours in Mor Dhona finding the perfect spot to get a snapshot of the tower in the center.

Excuse you, I've actually been playing XIV since alpha and I've explored these maps a hundred times over, but thank you for your ignorant comment.