How would -you- design a Zone, Instance, City, Dungeon, etc.

[Azurymber]

If you were tasked with designing a new zone, instance, city, dungeon, village, area, etc, how would you do it?
Pick one, explain what it would look like, feel like, what kinda music there would be, etc.

-Like- your favourites and I'll try to put the highest liked ones in this first comment

My idea:
Instance: Ghost Train (based on ff6/3)

Location: Somewhere hidden in the Black Shroud is a broken old platform with a mysterious hooded npc who gives crafting buffs (so ppl can craft while they wait), and tells you about a mysterious train that sometimes appears

Every 1-3 hours a ghost train appears which you can board.

The train takes you on a 15min long ride through the forest, eventually ending up in ala mihgo to the east (or coerthas if ala mihgo isnt implemented)

The train is kinda beat down, broken wood everywhere inside, etc. There is spooky music playing in the back and an npc playing a old-style piano that you hear if you go in that car.
If you talk to the piano player the piano stops and he attacks you.

There are 3 cars you can access. Each has random NPCs
Some NPCs tell you how they died (ex. died in a dragon raid)
Other NPCs attack you (as fomor type mobs)
theres a 1/100 chance an npc will give you a special piece of armor or a weapon and an achievement (can appear in any car)
theres a 1/100 chance an npc will turn into a rank 40 NM (or higher if there was a higher level cap) (can appear in any car)
Each car is rank-based. Ex. first car 20, second car 35, last car 45.
In the 45 cars not only are there NPCs but there are randomly spawning ghost type mobs.

Basically i think this would promote socialization like the boat rides in ffxi did, while adding a mysterious aspect to the game.

So what are your ideas?

[Rau]

Steam Punk city in a similar layout as Jeuno.

[Seif]

http://angrymikko.deviantart.com/gallery/#/d26mnf8

I'd do something like this. A river with some unique pieces of land thrown in so you can always navigate based on the shapes of the mountains or scenery.

(disclaimer:I'm not that good with gauche painting nor is that trying to be the same style as XIV scenery.) I'd place different lvl mobs on opposite ends of the bridge and connect them together with a bridge like this:

http://angrymikko.deviantart.com/gallery/#/d12cvhv

there people could buy potions and rare maps and do some fishing while waiting for airships.

I actually would love one of the smaller towns to be more colorful than the cities like that.
Anyway the town could be a place where lower and higher lvl players meet due to the opposite sides of the river being so different to play in due to the harder mobs.

Just a random thought...

oh and music style for the river: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9ee_...eature=related and for the town/bridge: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMvPP...eature=related

(because I hate too loud music in a game where I might stay hours in one spot)

[Vesperia]

Basically that scene from Pride and Prejudice where there is, like, a bridge or something and white geese fly by it, their reflections blurred in the glinting sunlight, and the lighting is really irridescent and everything is lens-flared and everyone wears funny old-fashioned clothes and the water sparkles and rabbits dart between the trees and there's, like, a pig or something over by the stables and an old house with a wagon parked somewhere. Or something.

[Picoman]

Cassiopia's fungus/plants mixed with a Jungle that reacts to your presence. (i.e. Flowers move out the way, ground lights up ect.)
Filled with crazy bugs, man-eating flowers and flying reptiles.

= Avatar-esque zone.

P.S. + a T-Rex

[Shyd]

Easy

Bells.

[Tonka]

First, I would pick something simple like a desert, forest, or plains. Then I would make the zone effing huge and put virtually nothing in it besides a few camps that all look identical.

As for mobs, maybe a squirrel? Sheep, perhaps. A firefly could be cool...like, just a little glowing dot that moves around that can kill you. Cool stuff like that.

[Shikaree]

First off, I'd allow for weather types to be present in cities. Why have it rain in a nearby area and yet not rain in your perfect little town space?

Keeping with weather, make it more randomized as to when it starts and stops. Knowing that weather effects always start and stop on the game hour isn't very interesting.

In field zones I would have some npcs that would have routes and have them move back and forth on that route. Gives a little immersion, like peddler npcs or maybe there's people that would be found in different areas depending on the time of year...

[OMEGA_HACK]

Your walking through a lush forest filled with every shade of natural green imaginable. In the distance you can spot out the white flickerings of little wisps, or perhaps it is just little lightning bugs playing tricks on you. To your left you can hear the faint noise of a creek traveling through the woods. The fauna stretches out to you along you path, the air seems pleasant despite it growing dark. And just as you feel like you are completely lost, up above you lights appear in the canopy of the treetops.

A town appears from the lights, there is the noise of people, a jaunty tune is being played up above. You walk to a giant nearby tree to see way up to the town via a rope ladder that has been lower for you. Once in the town you can see the plethora of people walking to a fro, of all kinds of shapes and sizes. You walk past a merchant who calls out to you to purchase some of his wares. Not interested you kindly shake your head with a smile and mouth out the words "no thanks"

Even higher above you are more intricate webbings of pathways, you can make out what looks like the largest tree in the forest. There is an opening that leads into the tree, inside is the home where the Great Elders live. The town, yet simple in appearance is lush with magic, espers and wisps whom are attached to the magical fires float around the lights in awe. Your shadows cast in all directions and while the walkways are dimly lit you feel at ease knowing that you won't fall off.

You climb higher and higher into the canopy passing by many homes where the city dwellers live until you finally reach the top of the canopy, here you can see the tops of all the trees, and the mountains that extend beyond the forest, you can see the sun peeking across the horizon, you have found your home, you have found your bliss.

A descriptive location (I was going to use AutoCAD to make a floor plan on the city but I liked this better; enjoy)

[Black_Rose]

definitely i'd love to see a Macalania Woods zone in FFXIV.