Poll: Seamless+CopyPaste VS. Zones+Variety

[Chrees]

What's the point of a seamless world anyway when everyone just ports everywhere. Still have to sit through a loading screen half the time I go anywhere.

Option #2

Very good point indeed!

Really, the only time I would find the loading screens to be a nuisance would be if we were able to have flying mounts of some sort, because that would kill the flying experience big time. But we don't, nor do I imagine we ever will, so that's a non-issue.

[Cairdeas]

I'd like it if they were Seamless but the variation was still there. If thats not possible then smaller Zones.

[Nakiamiie]

I vote for:
"The world that we have now, with massive seamless regions, but a lack of environmental variety."
and add more game objects to increase variability of the seamless regions.

I don't want to give up seamless feature.

EDIT: isn't there a technology out there that allows to change texture maps seamlessly? Like, instead of loading 1 big data file, load many smaller files and swap them in memory as the player moves around?? This would allow for seamless zones with lots of variability.

[Mack]

I vote for:
"The world that we have now, with massive seamless regions, but a lack of environmental variety."
and add more game objects to increase variability of the seamless regions.

I don't want to give up seamless feature.

EDIT: isn't there a technology out there that allows to change texture maps seamlessly? Like, instead of loading 1 big data file, load many smaller files and swap them in memory as the player moves around?? This would allow for seamless zones with lots of variability.

Well you would think but SE wanted FFXIV to look so far ahead of its time that they bit off more than they can chew. Of course everyone would want seamless zones that vary as you run certain distance, heck for the 3 months I played WoW I remember *that* game even had this, they hardly had any loading screens, although it looked ugly it was still there.

[Nakiamiie]

Well you would think but SE wanted FFXIV to look so far past that they bit off more than they can swallow. Of course everyone would want seamless zones that vary as you run certain distance, heck for the 3 months I played WoW I remember *that* game even had this, they hardly had any loading screens, although it looked ugly it was still there.

True, that's what I thought when I played WoW too.

[Rentahamster]

I vote for:
"The world that we have now, with massive seamless regions, but a lack of environmental variety."
and add more game objects to increase variability of the seamless regions.

I don't want to give up seamless feature.

EDIT: isn't there a technology out there that allows to change texture maps seamlessly? Like, instead of loading 1 big data file, load many smaller files and swap them in memory as the player moves around?? This would allow for seamless zones with lots of variability.

Can't have it both ways. This is a hard choice for the purposes of the thought-experiment. Seamlessness or variety, which do you hold higher in regard?

[Ayerc]

Give us more to do in the game, so we don't notice all the copy-paste terrain. I swear it only became an issue because we had nothing else to do but criticize the little bit of a game we did have.

I think we're on the right track, with the new camps coming, but we still have a ways to go.

[Teknoman]

Im not bothered by the similar terrain, but when presented with more variety...i'd take that any day. Add some extra dungeons or explorable structures to the landscape...or even npcs that might be wandering around/stationary to the area at certain times of day to give quests.

Also Chocobos...side note that I (and the majority of players) would probably be fine if it was just a faster means of transportation for now. Sure, we can teleport to aetherytes we've been to before, however thats pretty similar to XI's crystal telepoint system...and people used a mixture of walking, chocobo riding, and teleporting. Remember, even after teleporting, you still have to travel to certain out of the way locations.

[Veridian]

I want variety, felt like I went from 0 to 50 in the same backyard =\ put out an expansion that produces variety of battle environments and I'll buy it. And perhaps add flashy effects to battle regimen, but that is definitely not variety, it's mindless action queuing is what it is.

[Jennestia]

Can't have it both ways. This is a hard choice for the purposes of the thought-experiment. Seamlessness or variety, which do you hold higher in regard?

You can have it both ways, just with XIV it may not be possible (It's going to be a PS3 title), but they have expressed interest in changing up the current zones in various ways.