Exploration?

[Blitzace]

So is it just me or does Final Fantasy XIV really lacks the exploration part of a MMO?

Back in XI i used to travel alot, just spend hours and hours walking through Vana'diel, Checking out notorious monsters finding hidden caves etc etc.
i had such a blast, and even to farm i explored a big chunk of vana'diel, how ever farming is really not a part of XIV anymore in my opinion. There is really not that much to do with gill in XIV. Surely you can use it to level a craft or what ever, but besides that the only reason why i would spend any gill or even bother to make any gil is housing, and there are no personal houses yet( i believe) so i'll wait on that.

In XI you could buy pretty good gear from the AH. but they just made it to easy to get viable gear in XIV. and that isn't even the problem but i really do not like the lack of exploration in the game. There is little to nothing that will encourage someone to just step out. Right now most of us only farm duties i believe.

[Vladislav]

in 1.0 was empty world , but at least we can walk here & there and imagine what could be added here someday . in 2.0 exploration happens 1st days after game start only ; ; world is small atm , but maybe it will grow someday

[Darske]

XIV really does feel smaller to me. To compare the two, Vana'diel felt like things happened to be in the areas the world had- whereas Eorzea feels like its areas were built in mind with what was in them. That is to say, areas in Eorzea feel like they're just large enough to hold what quests and lore says should be there, and there's not much to explore outside of that.

That's not to say that there aren't areas outside that limitation though, they're just very far and few between. For example, The Burning Wall is one of my favorite areas so far, just because of its unique look and the fact that aside from a few quests there's nothing really important there (aside from that entrance to what's probably content that hasn't been added yet.), so it just felt like a cool place you could find and explore when you hit level 40.

(cont.)

[Darske]

Even the Burning Wall and the Sahagin areas feel like they're only there because of planned content though, especially with Leviathan on the way. I really hope that as time goes on and patches come out, more of Eorzea opens up not just to hold towns and quest areas, but for us to wander and explore. I'd love to explore caves in the frozen plains of Coerthas, trek through expanded swaths of the Sagolii Desert, and make my way through bigger portions of the untamed wilds of La Noscea.

It's really a shame that Eorzea feels so small when what's there now feels so vibrant and beautiful. I really, really hope that we'll get more places to explore as time goes on.

[Orophin]

Another one of those nostalgic FFXI threads I see.

Difference between FFXI and FFXIV is scale. NA players got FFXI with a full expansion behind it already. Travel options weren't readily available (no teleport, no personal transportation for a long time) so it took longer amounts of time to travel, which made the areas seem much bigger. (even though they are larger in comparsion)

FFXI had a lot of neat areas and so does FFXIV, but there are just as many areas in FFXI that didn't or don't receive much, if any, traffic from players. Many areas were largely ignored simply because there was nothing to do there but grind for xp or farming, and the occasional NM.

[Kajidourden]

I have not gone anywhere besides Gridania and Revenants Toll on my Bard since finishing storyline/unlocking things. On my crafters/gatherers? Yes.

I think that speaks volumes.

Also, inb4 "You can go back if you want to!"......and do what? Watch lower level people questing? Yeah....that argument is incredibly dense.

[Blitzace]

Another one of those nostalgic FFXI threads I see.

Far from "nostalgic" Considering i played it a few months ago, And even if i take away all the expansions and just hold the base game. It still had more (for me) to offer due to exploration.
This game really focus way to much on dungeons to get stuff right now. And sure they'll add more content later, but if they don't add more things in game to do, like bringing back NMs or what ever to intrigue people to explore, its just not gonna happen i think.

[Cegiana]

You draw the map as you travel gaining experience with a bigger bonus once the whole map is drawn. How much more incentive do you need to explore? A free relic per drawn map? lol

While ffxi maps have more ground to cover, the area are mostly empty. Not a nostalgic memory for me, I just logged out of ffxi to log into ffxiv for now.

[Edellis]

Best part of joining FFXIV to me was exploration. Unlike other Open World MMOs (and FFXIV 1.0), the world is dense and well-designed for practicality.

After you explore everything though...yeah, there's nothing else to explore. But that's kind of common sense.

[MPNZ]

I am so glad I took the time to explore when I did because I do not think I would have ever done it if I had just continued the story.