One to Fifty, One Zone - Long OP

[MeowyWowie]

@ OP

This is one of the main reasons I've given up on battle classes entirely, at least until things change. I spend all of my time in game crafting or fishing, something I find boring in any game.

Patiently waiting, hoping that there will be better, more adventurous days ahead. I can't help but think my time spent playing FFXIV was all in vein.

[Rowyne]

This is one of the main reasons I've given up on battle classes entirely, at least until things change. I spend all of my time in game crafting or fishing, something I find boring in any game.

Patiently waiting, hoping that there will be better, more adventurous days ahead. I can't help but think my time spent playing FFXIV was all in vein.

It is hard to sometimes keep the faith. Fixing this problem will require a major overhaul. Changing the battle system will look like a cakewalk in comparison.

I'm hoping the prophecies of the 7th Umbral Age and the end of the world will usher in a complete sundering of the land and changing of the map.

[EdenArchangel]

I'm hoping the prophecies of the 7th Umbral Age and the end of the world will usher in a complete sundering of the land and changing of the map.

I like to think that the team is smart, and is already planning this, just not giving any indication of it.

Let the world burn and be magically transformed, and you won't see a single question of "did something happen?" from my character.

[Poipori]

In before loyalists and blinded fan-boys come in to defend SE with crappy excuses like

1. pre-zilart ffxi sucks too, so ffxiv should suck at launch too!

2. xiv zones are awesome! blame yourself for not explore every single corner and search the entire screen for a remotely special thing that appear once every 10000miles.

[Demacia]

In before loyalists and blinded fan-boys come in to defend SE with crappy excuses like

1. pre-zilart ffxi sucks too, so ffxiv should suck at launch too!

2. xiv zones are awesome! blame yourself for not explore every single corner and search the entire screen for a remotely special thing that appear once every 10000miles.

Fucking tell me about it. People will bitch about XIV becoming XI-2 endlessly but once people start talking shit they'll pull the "Oh XI was bad when it first launched 9 years ago too nyaaa".

[RedAffinity]

I don't know if you guys noticed or not, but when you step outside of your main city.. the single area map is about half the size of Vanadiel combined. Bit exaggeration there but you get the idea.

I'd have loved to walk outside Ul'Dah into the rocky areas, and venture off more towards the south and gradually see the environment transform into a true sandy desert (Altepa Deserts), or travel north and gradually climb higher into rockier more mountain like scenery, all on 1 map, all on 1 zone. Perhaps i'm not very creative to sound convincing with my details, but the general idea is there.

[MeowyWowie]

I don't know if you guys noticed or not, but when you step outside of your main city.. the single area map is about half the size of Vanadiel combined. Bit exaggeration there but you get the idea.

I'd have loved to walk outside Ul'Dah into the rocky areas, and venture off more towards the south and gradually see the environment transform into a true sandy desert (Altepa Deserts), or travel north and gradually climb higher into rockier more mountain like scenery, all on 1 map, all on 1 zone. Perhaps i'm not very creative to sound convincing with my details, but the general idea is there.

This is true to an extent. But the very, very slight transition of scenery within a zone is barely noticeable at best, and completely pales in comparison to the variety seen in FFXI. Also, don't forget, FFXIV has only a handful of mob species so even if you grind in different areas on your way to 50 you're still killing the same mobs you were at rank 1. Sure, even in FFXI crabs and gobs were common targets, but you still had much more variety than what XIV offers. I don't remember grinding on one species all the way to cap in XI.

Fact is, SE took a huge step back in terms of mob placement, zone design, and basically everything else. It will be a very long time until it's all fixed. If they show that they are willing to fix it I might just stick around. But to be honest, there's plenty of other casual games that bury FFXIV in every aspect except graphics.

I'm not a casual gamer, but at the moment I'll take any casual game over XIV in its current state. The only reason I'm still here is because I have patience and hope for XIV, but even that is beginning to wear itself thin.

[Neptune]

Wow, Rowyne the truth hurts. Lol. Truly sad.

Also, there is sand dunes to the south of Ul'Dah that you can see if you go over there. But you can't access them, of course. ><

[Rowyne]

Wow, Rowyne the truth hurts. Lol. Truly sad.

Yeah. *sigh* It really does. To be honest, I didn't realize just how big a design flaw this was, how it impacted so many reasons for our dissatisfaction of the game, until I made that post and read others in this thread. Up until now, I had truly believed that what needed to change could come through some system redesigns and implementations.

But this... this is huge. This is unfathomable.

It could be approached one of two ways:
*A complete redesign of the world map (which could be incorporated with the 7th Umbral Age prophecy)
*Breaking up the world map into subzones based on aetheryte locations with new monster families

Personally, I'd rather see option one. Wipe the slate clean. Bring on the sundering. And incorporate it into the game's story.

Of course, option two would be easier and would most likely the be the route the dev team would take.

But in that token... what really scares me is that the giant that is Blizzard Entertainment devoted an entire expansion redesigning the known world of Azeroth in WoW: Cataclysm. It is a monumental task. It's been speculated that complaints about The Black Shroud has prompted a planned redesign of that zone. But who knows if the dev team really understands the scope and complexity of the problem that is the world design as a whole? And if they do, how many more months will it take them to address it after the battle system is overhauled? And if they start plunking in dungeons and quest hubs, maybe they just plan to ignore it altogether?

I don't think my heart has sank this much over the game in months.

But the very, very slight transition of scenery within a zone is barely noticeable at best, and completely pales in comparison to the variety seen in FFXI. Also, don't forget, FFXIV has only a handful of mob species so even if you grind in different areas on your way to 50 you're still killing the same mobs you were at rank 1. Sure, even in FFXI crabs and gobs were common targets, but you still had much more variety than what XIV offers. I don't remember grinding on one species all the way to cap in XI.

Fact is, SE took a huge step back in terms of mob placement, zone design, and basically everything else. It will be a very long time until it's all fixed.

Couldn't have said it better myself. What's worse than a mindless grind? The one where you do it for 50 levels, on the same monsters in the same place.

It's a maddening thought.

[Xenor]

The world doesn't even make sense. I mean Thanalan's desert suddenly transforms into a forest at the Shroud zone line? Where's the transition? I always felt there was a region missing between those and even on the world map it looks like there should be a desert area that turns into a grassy area followed by a river and then grassy before going to forest. Shroud itself makes no sense. If you've ever been north of Nine Ivies you'll see the area is miles above the ground, yet on the world map it's all flat.

I don't think they can fix these areas. They just need to be forgotten about as soon as an expansion comes along and adds new areas. Then again we aren't even using Coerthas and Mor Dhona for content yet or the 20 or so dungeons that are locked away.