[dev] Please make future maps more varried...........................................

[Mack]

yes, please. I was running around Thanalan and the only point I saw for the maps being so large is so leve camps are far apart...so lame. At least add temples or areas of interest with any significance to them. Even so however, the maps are boring and dull, why do the regions have to be so big? if you guys were going with seamless you should have studied it more before deciding to half way it. Did you guys forget how to make maps? did you forget what FFXI was like? or maybe its because you guys were so out of touch with your fans 'til recently that you had no idea what we actually liked and what we didn't.

Please change the maps that we have now (and more than a few quest hubs too) and/or make future zones smaller and/or more varied in design...as in way more varied, as in different texture altogether. And for the love of god make a transition region between Thanalan and the Shroud, and then burn the shroud to the ground and make it wide open.

It took you guys 3 tries and we don't even know if you're going to get the battle system right still. I don't understand how this is even possible? 3 freakin tries! I know it doesn't look like you're considering changing the maps but please give us more zones and make them useful...these zones suck, there is nothing there, they aren't charming, the music that overlays them sucks. Even FFXII had funner exploration in it, what the hell where you guys thinking?

I'm excited for content as much as the next person and the new battle system but there's a lot more that this game needs. Maps aside too, my NPC linkpearl just glowed, I was asked to go to Ashcrown Consortium (in Gridania) so I did, why??? because they wanted to tell me to go to Mor Dhona...literally, I was sent packing to Gridania for 2 sentences...why couldn't they ask me over the pearl for instance?? oh right, I get it, because you guys think that boring time sinks = good game design and yes I bolded this part because its #@#!in annoying. Fix it please. I suggest you look at things you did right in FFXI and improve on them, because if you have any hope of FFXIV being a success its because of ex-XI players and current XI players who might wanna make the switch.

[SIZE="5"]To the community reps, can you guys please get an answer as to what the devs are planning to do with the maps we currently have, aside from adding quest hubs, if anything?[/SIZE]

[Azurymber]

almost every quest is the same. Run from city to city or out the middle of no where to talk to an npc for 2 lines or to kill 5 mobs you can 1shot.

But haven't you been reading these forums? Lots of players -love- this. They feel relaxed running for hours over repetitive terrain. Like that kira chick, she just runs around for fun

[Mack]

There is no way anyone can enjoy this. Its not even opinion any more, if someone actually says they enjoy the storyline quests (the actual gameplay portion of it, because the storyline itself isn't too bad) then they are just insane.

[Azurymber]

Well a lot of people seem to love the story and side quests, especially running around.

[Betelgeuzah]

The word you're looking for is "concentrated".

If you can't fill the map with enough details, you shrink it down in size until you can.

[Azurymber]

ok to be honest the maps are actually pretty hardcore in the higher level areas, they have landmarks, interestesting designs, and are much prettier with more details.

However all these areas are infested with 60+ mobs so we can't get to them......

Doesn't make much sense lol.

[Mack]

Not really, the higher level regions can use work too. I'm running around Mor Dhona and other than that its "new", new can only last for so long. I love the music here and in Coerthas but aside from that they are big for no good reason at all. I'm sure I'm not alone when I say I would love smaller maps that are more "concentrated" as Bete put it. Or at the very least if you're gonna have giant maps please have more than leves and behest taking up those regions and I don't mean just some dungeons off in the corners of the maps either but fill them in: small towns, random event NPCs maybe, I dunno I don't have a creative mind and don't make video games for a living but even my lame brain is getting bored with these scenes.

[Betelgeuzah]

Fortunately for them they can do few creative things to make the current areas more lively with some effort.

For example the increased beastmen activity in these areas could help in making them more diverse. They can also add giant NM's to roam around and work as "landmarks" as themselves. Later on they can do the same with Garleans and their machinery.

I think it'll take quite a bit of effort to get these areas filled with interesting details, but there's no need for tons of costly assets (although they'd definitely help too).

At this point I think they should focus on a few large unique landmark assets in every open "zone" that you could see in the distance. Then just fill the rest of the place with beastmen, garleans and NM's.

[Rane]

Fortunately for them they can do few creative things to make the current areas more lively with some effort.

For example the increased beastmen activity in these areas could help in making them more diverse. They can also add giant NM's to roam around and work as "landmarks" as themselves. Later on they can do the same with Garleans and their machinery.

I think it'll take quite a bit of effort to get these areas filled with interesting details, but there's no need for tons of costly assets (although they'd definitely help too).

At this point I think they should focus on a few large unique landmark assets in every open "zone" that you could see in the distance. Then just fill the rest of the place with beastmen, garleans and NM's.

I think these are good suggestions. Huge areas would be OK if there is variation from place to place within the area. Preferably western Thanalan would look very different from central and eastern Thanalan, but if they don't have the resources to make that happen, adding local landmarks within each section of an area would serve to differentiate things somewhat.

I agree with the OP that there really should be a transition between Thanalan and the Shroud. Actually, the world would feel a lot more real if there were transitions between all areas. The abrupt changes really hurt the immersion. It may be too much to ask to make the whole world seamless. However, it's possible to add smoother transitions even while maintaining loading screens between areas. For instance, if they gradually started increasing the amount of greenery and trees in northeastern Thanalan as you got toward the the zone to the Shroud it would make the transition seem much more natural. It would also be nice if the trees started thinning out and mountains came into view in the northwestern Shroud near the Coerthas zone.

[Betelgeuzah]

Yep, that too.

Basically more objects like drogaroga's spine, the crags (Qufim's especially), north gustaberg's waterfall, and the airdragonship-thing in Mor Dhona.

Every open zone needs a theme like this if it shares the same locale and assets with the surrounding zones. Northern Thanalan, for example, is fine as-is. Western, Eastern and Central Thanalan on the other hand are not.