One to Fifty, One Zone - Long OP

[Sigmakan]

First off you don't add more low level mobs you redo the entire mob placement throughout the zone. Completely change it. SE has done this in patches before and moved around mob densities and spawn locations. Put mobs where mobs make sense.

Secondly no one goes to mor dhona or coerthas because a) there are a limited amount of quests/sidequests for those areas b) no leves for these areas and c) you can level 1-50 in Thanalan. At the moment they might as well just call Eorzea "Thanalan".

Agree with your second point, and this issue is just as important as the on brought up by the OP. No one is going to go to these new diverse areas if its easier to level up in the bland areas. This really needs to be addressed. Both Mor Dhona and Coerthas are great zones, but there really is no reason to go there.

I think ideally the starting areas would eventually 'cap' at R40 instead of going all the way to 90. But then you have this huge area with a ton of the same level mobs. This may actually be ok, especially if normal sp-parties (non behest) become more ppoular.

[Rowyne]

In regards to separating each area of the zone into different level ranges. Isnt that how it is already?

Central Than 1-10
Easter Than 10-20
Western Than 20-30
Western Than(nophica) 30-40
Southern Than 40-50
Eastern Than(halatali) 40-50

They have the right idea, but having different level ranges like this isnt enough to make players feel like they are making any progress. Issue is that you see the same type of monsters over and over, as well as the same textures over and over. If each 'zone' of the large maps had more unique flavor to them as well as unique mobs it would definitely help.

Exactly, and I think this is probably the way the dev team would handle it. The sub-zones need to be much more unique, both visually, and with different monster families, so that they feel like mini-zones.

Imagine if the Quon continent or Kalimdor (for our WoW players) all had the same landscape. That's basically what they've done here. Our three starting places feel more like giant zones that all look the same, instead of regions with zones inside them. This seriously needs to change.

[Sigmakan]

Exactly, and I think this is probably the way the dev team would handle it. The sub-zones need to be much more unique, both visually, and with different monster families, so that they feel like mini-zones.

Western Than could be more desert like (like Dunes). Eastern Than could start to show some vegetation as it transforms into Black Shroud.

Funny thing is that Northern Than has the most 'flavor' yet there is nothing to do there. I like how Northern Than feels like you are going up a mountain a bit, eventually entering Mor Dhona. It could use a bit more texture flavor though.

[AdvancedWind]

They just need to change the overall appearance of the different areas already in game; technically, each and every area around a certain aether is supposed to be a "zone". You can say that around Bloodshore is the rank 20 "zone" while Cactus Basin is the 60 zone.

Yes, bloodshore is in the same "hub" area as Cedarwood (La Noscea) despite they being of dif levels, but they are still, technically, dif zones. There's even the 'server tunnel' someone else mentioned between them.

The problem here is that they both look exactly the same, when even the lore and npcs say they do not. In fact, each and every area has a few defining features that make them 'unique' (Ex: Treespeak has those sparkling trees, Camp Iron Lake has...well, the lake, etc).

What SE has to do, however, is to make this uniqueness stand out and not be a simply ("Hey, look! Sparkling trees! [but everything else looks exactly the same as everywhere else in the Black Shroud, ooopsie]"). Change around the overal look around each camp, and it won't matter that much that the R60s are killing stuff right east of Uldah and very close to the rank 1 area, if each of those areas actually looks different from the rest of Thanalan.

[Kennedy]

I wish the devs would look into this matter, seriously, with all due respect, in XI I could stand anywhere and it would be a beautiful scene where I would take a picture of, in thanalan you wouldn't even want to look up to the sky, there are barely any stars, scene or whatever. It's all copy, paste, copy paste. In XI you could spend almost 2 hours running into every single home and jail cell in SandOria with all the NPC's crowding everywhere it felt lively.

Everytime in XI when I traveled, I had something to look forward to, such as seeing new bestiaries, environment and just the simple dedication SE put into the game. In XIV I can't even recognize anything or remember where I am. Simply, there are a lot of flaws. If this game starts charging monthly fees, I'm definitely out unless something is done about it.

[Alhanelem]

I honestly think the OP is a little bit silly. Zoning was not some exciting, grand experience. It was just "fade to loading screen, fade to new area." But it's not clear what his position is. Does he want more zone lines? does he want the whole world to be one area?

The former sucks, the latter is impractical.

[Black_Rose]

I honestly think the OP is a little bit silly. Zoning was not some exciting, grand experience. It was just "fade to loading screen, fade to new area." But it's not clear what his position is. Does he want more zone lines? does he want the whole world to be one area?

The former sucks, the latter is impractical.

you're probably looking at this whole thing differently then what the OP has meant.
What FFXIV misses over FFXI is a feel of adventure.
honestly, what would you rather have.
one huge zone that mostly looks the same, or multiple smaller zones, that all look differently.
i miss the adveture feeling.
i wish FFXIV would have adopted to FFXIs zones, like going from ronfaure to ghelsba outpost, and not from one camp to another >_<

[Richard]

I honestly think the OP is a little bit silly. Zoning was not some exciting, grand experience. It was just "fade to loading screen, fade to new area." But it's not clear what his position is. Does he want more zone lines? does he want the whole world to be one area?

The former sucks, the latter is impractical.

This thread isn't about 'zoning'.

[Raikki]

I honestly think the OP is a little bit silly. Zoning was not some exciting, grand experience. It was just "fade to loading screen, fade to new area." But it's not clear what his position is. Does he want more zone lines? does he want the whole world to be one area?

The former sucks, the latter is impractical.

If more actual zone lines means each "zone" can have distinct visuals, then I'll gladly accept them and I think most people would agree with me. If they're really unable to add more textures and unique terrain to each zone as it is because of actual memory constraints, then this is the approach I would be asking them to take. Variety is the spice of life.