One to Fifty, One Zone - Long OP

[Reinheart]

lol, if we had city competition right now I would feel so bad for Limsa and Gridania D: [/comfort]

lol week 1 you will see region map with Uldah color/flag all over.

If you were refering to my post; I don't want region fights like XI, was interesting but didn't make sense to me why Windurst, Bastok, Sandoria had to take over lands, I understood beastmen owning the region but should of just been beastmen or players imo. Wasn't a bad idea though

Just saying if player as in yourself do more leve's in that area you get to see the changes yourself. Some people might find a exploit to buy/sell stuff from players who can see the expanded/evolved camps and stuff but I wouldn't see why the would need to. Just like FFXI if Sandoria owned certain region all I had to do was go to the NPC in Sandoria... extra walk but I didn't mind w

[Rowyne]

Just saying if player as in yourself do more leve's in that area you get to see the changes yourself.

I think I understand what you're getting at. WoW does something like this. It's called Phasing. Depending on where you are in a certain part of a questline, you see different NPCs, different flight points and camps open up, etc. The world dynamically changes around you. They started playing around with it in Wrath of the Lich King, then used it heavily in Cataclysm.

Of course, it's annoying as hell when you're playing with friends, and you're all on different steps in the quest chain. >.<

But it encourages you to complete content and it's a lot of fun.

It would be wonderful to see FFXIV utilize something like this, but it's an advanced concept that can be really tricky and buggy as hell. I think they would need to get other major issues sorted out, first. Something to look forward to in the future, maybe?

[Richard]

I think im going to say it now...we aren't getting any response at this point. After it being up over a week, having this massive amount of pages/replies/likes and still nothing.....yah might as well call it quits.

Don't call it quits. They will respond eventually. What I realized a night or two ago was that they are probably trying to figure out the best way to say nothing and everything at the exact same time in this thread. They have to treat it very delicately based on the community response gathered here. I have a feeling they are going over it carefully and we'll hear something eventually which, may or may not be what we want to hear at all.

[Wild]

Looking forward to how they will address some of the great ideas in this thread. I would love to see diversity in look, music and monsters. Captivate me like you once did in FFXI!

The image below may have been posted here before but it is a step in the right direction as to what I would like to see. Then moving forward even more diversity please...

http://img40.picoodle.com/i56a/ccf18/s2p9_715_uceje.jpg

[Bigglesworth]

I kinda think that little mini map in the upper left hand corner is partially to blame for this. How many times when doing behest/leves, or just running back to Uldah are we just looking at the little red dot in the mini map, and also running towards the little yellow cloud?

If that is all we focus on then we end up missing a lot of the enviornment around us. I swear if I were to be magically transported to Ronfaure I could navigate the entire zone with precision without a map with my eyes closed. Can't say the same for thanalan because A)zones are copied/pasted and B) we are given too much of a navigation crutch with the mini-map that it takes away from the immersion into the actual world.

[kurokawa]

I kinda think that little mini map in the upper left hand corner is partially to blame for this. How many times when doing behest/leves, or just running back to Uldah are we just looking at the little red dot in the mini map, and also running towards the little yellow cloud?

If that is all we focus on then we end up missing a lot of the enviornment around us. I swear if I were to be magically transported to Ronfaure I could navigate the entire zone with precision without a map with my eyes closed. Can't say the same for thanalan because A)zones are copied/pasted and B) we are given too much of a navigation crutch with the mini-map that it takes away from the immersion into the actual world.

You're right. I went mental about this at beta but no-one said anything. The mini map kills exploration.

Ever used a sat nav in your car then tried to go back to the Same place without the help of it? Maps are bad unless you're lost. We should be using the eyes and ears. Same for in game. the mini map is crap, I hate it.

[Siobu]

Thanks for the hard work, everyone. We've been calling for an answer here for over a week. Consistently (somehow!?) on the front page and hot topics. While I truly have no idea what's going on, I'll be here for as long as you are.

All we can do is make ourselves heard. And rest assured, I believe, it's impossible not to have noticed us. (Sorry, General!)


To recap everything for late arrivals skipping 70+ pages:

Once more, this thread calls for a serious evaluation of our current zones.

They are the size of regions, yet are soulless and lack any sense of progression or adventure. They contain enemies from 1-99 right across from our cities' entrances. The zones seem connected as an afterthought.

Although advertised and insisted as being "seamless," we still encounter loading screens when crossing into a new zone.

There is no room for expansion, no meaning or reason to add any new zones to the game. Not when the current zones free the developer's hands of ever having to create new areas. Because these zones do the work for them, by keeping us here until level 99.

When we make our first run to our first camp, we've already seen most of the world. When we're running back and forth between corners of the zone, we run past new players. Running in circles, instead of forward.

Are adding more camps to our current world truly the solution? Will more campfires, tents, and NPC's in Thanalan touch upon this core issue?

[Zantetsuken]

Siobu. Inspired by your drawings and some of the ideas other have posted, I've put together some of my own concepts for alternate texture looks in the different areas of each zone.

Here are the links:

Thanalan
The Black Shroud
La Noscea

The only issue with changing texture pallets for different areas of the zones is the loading them. We already have transitional areas for loading though and if they manage to make it a smooth transition, the new textures would be a simple fix that would add a considerable amount of visual variety to the zones. This, of course, in addition to mob redistribution.

[Cutriss]

The only issue with changing texture pallets for different areas of the zones is the loading issues. If they can work that out, it would be a simple fix that would add a considerable amount of visual variety to the zones. This, of course, in addition to mob redistribution.

That shouldn't be a problem. There's already some advance caching going on whenever you cross the zone lines in the middle of a region, so that would be an opportunity to swap textures.

[Eekiki]

That shouldn't be a problem. There's already some advance caching going on whenever you cross the zone lines in the middle of a region, so that would be an opportunity to swap textures.

You know what else they could do? Not make their "next-gen" game use a 7 year old version of DirectX.