One to Fifty, One Zone - Long OP

[Stupifyed]

Liked it, hope it catches on.

[Eekiki]

Over 150 likes to the OP. Over 300 replies in three days. No official acknowledgment.

SE, I believe this thread makes it painfully obvious what the dev team's priority needs to be if they want this game to succeed as much as they claim to.

[AuronYevon]

Liked as well for the French version. Hopefully we can get more to make it a hot topic over there as well.

Hope to hear soon from the Devs as well on the English Forums on this subject and compare

[Cyruance]

First thread I really felt like posting in, this is something that -really- needs to be addressed. Personally, I believe the intention was the often stated 'freedom' of play they originally wanted to achieve and while I appreciate the redundancy present in that at any point in the game you have the option of going to 1 of 3 different zones to level...Really? 1 of the same 3 for the entirety of the game? These 3 that barely change regardless of whether you're right outside the city-state or on the other side of the map; if you're at the level 40 camp or the level 20? What little variation exists within the sub-zones falls rather flat in my view since theres no significant lore or locations associated with them to give them their own atmosphere and feel.

It boggles the mind to have the game setup like this, no real sense of progression, of going to more dangerous and exotic lands - just all the same.

[Perrin_Aybarra]

I "liked" the french version as well to get it going and replied to it as well since I speak french. Just made some specifications to reflect what has been said here to say that it's not that we can go from 1 to 50 in the same region (Black Shroud, Thanalan, La Noscea) that is the big issue but that the feel of progression is non existant.

That this could be solved by making each sub-zones of the big regions different but still using the same eco-system theme like the drawing of the OP express http://seahorror.com/thoughts.jpg. So that each sub-zone would have it's own flavor and monster types and you would feel a progression by advancing to the next sub-zone.

Would be like combining Saruta, Taronhgi, Giddeus, Buburimu and the dungeons like the maze of shakrami and the towers un Saruta to be under a "seemless" region formed by all these different sub-zones with their own flavor but all with the same type of eco-system in the background.

No matter that all 3 starting area offer the same progressions and that we can go from 1-50 in either of these regions, it wouldn't feel boring if it was like that with different sub-zones. They could still reduce the starting regions to be from 1-35 and then Coertas and Mor Dhana to be 30-50.

[TL;DR] Anyways that's my input on it, I know it has been mentioned by others and I said pretty much the same thing in a earlier reply but I just want to stress the fact that it's not the fact that it's 1-50 in the same region (zone) but the fact that it's the same exact copy-pasted environment everywhere you go in the region. Making each sub-zone different but still under the same theme and distributing monsters accordingly would be the way to go.

[Rowyne]

That this could be solved by making each sub-zones of the big regions different but still using the same eco-system theme like the drawing of the OP express http://seahorror.com/thoughts.jpg. So that each sub-zone would have it's own flavor and monster types and you would feel a progression by advancing to the next sub-zone.

Would be like combining Saruta, Taronhgi, Giddeus, Buburimu and the dungeons like the maze of shakrami and the towers un Saruta to be under a "seemless" region formed by all these different sub-zones with their own flavor but all with the same type of eco-system in the background.

Perfectly worded, IMO. I think you presented the best and most realistic solution. This would give us zone variety, a progression path, and the seamless world that was so proudly promised in early interviews.

No matter that all 3 starting area offer the same progressions and that we can go from 1-50 in either of these regions, it wouldn't feel boring if it was like that with different sub-zones. They could still reduce the starting regions to be from 1-35 and then Coertas and Mor Dhana to be 30-50.

That's definitely the way it should be, IMO.

Black Shroud: 1-35
La Noscea: 1-35
Thanalan: 1-35
Coerthas: 30-50
Mor Dhana: 30-50

This still gives you a choice of places to level, but with the structure and progression we need.

[Perrin_Aybarra]

That's definitely the way it should be, IMO.

Black Shroud: 1-35
La Noscea: 1-35
Thanalan: 1-35
Coerthas: 30-50
Mor Dhana: 30-50

This still gives you a choice of places to level, but with the structure and progression we need.

Thanks, and from what I have read of you and others as well you seem to see it the same way I do. We just need to stop think as the zones (like thanalan) as just 1 zone but a big region with multiple sub-zones that if designed differently from one another, we would not go into a depression thinking we are still in thanalan at higher levels. The big flaw is that regardless if you are rank 10 or 40, you still fight the same monsters and it's the same environment everywhere you look.

If they take OP's ideas from his sketches then you'd be fighting one type of mob, let's say squirrels and mushrooms from 1-10 in bentbranch in a woody type area, then you would make your way to emerald moss which would look like a thicket with maybe bigger bodies of water and you'd fight Yarzons and crabs from 10-15, then Tranquil which could be a thick forest and you'd fight Does and Lizards to get to level 20 and so on around the various SUB-zones of the shroud so that it would feel like you progress and you get to see new places (would actually help that if we would get a text when you reach different sub-zone). Then at 35 you could go to Coertas and Mor Dhana to get a similar progression within those region. There still could be remote places in the starting areas that could be way higher level for later.

[Rowyne]

Thanks, and from what I have read of you and others as well you seem to see it the same way I do. We just need to stop think as the zones (like thanalan) as just 1 zone but a big region with multiple sub-zones that if designed differently from one another, we would not go into a depression thinking we are still in thanalan at higher levels. The big flaw is that regardless if you are rank 10 or 40, you still fight the same monsters and it's the same environment everywhere you look.

If they take OP's ideas from his sketches then you'd be fighting one type of mob, let's say squirrels and mushrooms from 1-10 in bentbranch in a woody type area, then you would make your way to emerald moss which would look like a thicket with maybe bigger bodies of water and you'd fight Yarzons and crabs from 10-15, then Tranquil which could be a thick forest and you'd fight Does and Lizards to get to level 20 and so on around the various SUB-zones of the shroud so that it would feel like you progress and you get to see new places (would actually help that if we would get a text when you reach different sub-zone). Then at 35 you could go to Coertas and Mor Dhana to get a similar progression within those region. There still could be remote places in the starting areas that could be way higher level for later.

Absolutely. I think this right here would solve a lot of issues. ^

[EdenArchangel]

1-96* in the same zone is part of the issue, as well as the identical areas all around the zone.
We have no reason to leave the starting areas, no sense of progression, no exploration, no adventure.

[kyuubi]

This IS the biggest fail of ffxiv by a long shot, 1-50 zones. You shouldn't be able to run everywhere at any level and not care. If you are a low level you should get annihilated by scary monsters for being in a higher level zone. This should be the natural order of things