I don't feel like i'm playing an mmo...and I know why

[Calyanare]

You want Black Shroud to become this again?: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ti2AIhEoH9Y

I think what people want is the high-res textures and zone size from 1.0, and not the copypasta. In case that wasn't obvious.

[Zfz]

When they're too big it feels dead, that's what would kill the "MMORPG" feeling to me.

I would rather that the wilderness (and the forest, taking Central Shroud as an example) be dangerous. Traveling along the known paths are more or less safe, but venturing into the woods will be dangerous. Let players congregate in towns and camps to create that feeling of the MMO. The more populated a zone is, the less adventure it becomes.

For example deserts are supposed to feel dead. Deep woods are supposed to be quiet with hidden dangers behind the next tree. Great plains on the other hand are safer because you can see at a distance any threats approaching.

Lack of people doesn't necessarily kill the MMO feeling for me. Having all the zones always populated feels too crowded. No more fantasy in that.

[Allyra]

Unfortunately the zones sizes are completely dictated by the Playstation 3's lack of memory and overall processing power, although for the most part the memory constraints.

This is incorrect. 1.0 had a seamless world and their servers couldn't handle it. The lag was insane in that game. Just starting to craft it could take your character 1-2 minutes before they finally sat down into the crafting position.

And remember the ps3 version didn't even exist in 1.0. Could it be limiting it somewhat? Sure. But to say this is completely at the hands of the ps3 is not knowing FFXIV's history.

I think some need to be a little realistic. 1.0 got dumped on. A lot. It was a complete failure. And one of the biggest gripes they received was they cheated making the world big by copy-pasting the same trees and rocks over and over again. You couldn't even navigate in the Black Shroud without a map because it was one big maze where no matter where you turned everything looked the same.

So they made the decision to completely redo the world (understandable considering the backlash). But this is still a product that cost them millions and they had to spend even more millions with basically no profit until they asked legacy players to pay for it.

Simply put, the zones and the smaller world is something that they could do quickly and efficiently.


Now, does this mean we shouldn't ask for more? Nah. I just want people to at least appreciate the world for what they were able to do in such a short time-span and ask with the perspective of hoping they add more in the future (which I do believe is their intent).

[jomoru]

Its good to know something like Skyrim would make you feel like you're playing an MMo...

[Shioban]

This is incorrect. 1.0 had a seamless world and their servers couldn't handle it. The lag was insane in that game. Just starting to craft it could take your character 1-2 minutes before they finally sat down into the crafting position.

"Completley" was the wrong word to use there, it was if anything one of the larger considerations amougst the others such as the server pressure, design time, overall performance impact/loading data. (Not to mention the horrific LUA scripting they did.)

But the fact still remains that the Playstation 3 limits each zone to a smaller area, and designing a smaller area with detail is easier than a larger area, a problem i'm currently having with my own projects actually. (Fleshing areas out is a nightmare)

[Psychosamm]

I don't see why people are saying a world like skyrim would make it less like a MMO, if anything it enhances the feeling. It adds more adventure and danger, when theres hundreds of people in every place you go to it looses its sense of adventure, and that is one of the things MMOs are about. You would still have your populated areas (ex: revenants toll), but having a large seamless world would be the icing on top. I don't see how anyone could say if they didn't see anyone else in their immediate location that it "kills the mmo feeling". People are too focused on the MMO part that they forget the RPG, you need both, and the latter is what is lacking in FFXIV most in my opinion.

[LiadansWhisper]

I would also like for the zones to be much bigger. I am really happy, though, that the zone areas we do have are so pretty and unique and non-laggy. But I admit that I miss climbing on mountains!

[Moontide]

I'd give the first post more thumbs up if I could. This is exactly what I was feeling during the first few weeks already. The fact that progression is extra-linear in ARR only makes the feeling even worse. You're down to a very narrow path to tread, and once the story is over the only thing left seems to be gear grind.

[Enkidoh]

The irony is, if you compare the new maps to the original 1.0 maps based on region, and eliminate the zonelines, the zones are actually pretty much the same size as they were in 1.0, there is just a zone line between sections now. The main zone that has been changed the most (not including the snowbound Coerthas or Mor Dhona missing it's southern half) is the Black Shroud, and that was basically just one long passageway twisted back on itself constantly in 1.0 with the odd clearing for good measure. But by comparing maps it's still pretty much the same size. The zone lines just eliminate that synthetic appearance of 'seamlessness' that actually wasn't.

[pepero]

I'm probably going to get a lot of hate for this but WoW did it right with the open world concept, There are 0 boundaries to where you can go, oh you fell off a cliff? Too bad you're dead. I feel like SE is holding my hand the entire game with this whole borders and invisible walls bs. What if I want to run off that cliff, that's my choice who are you to restrict that from me. It makes me feel as if SE's programmers were incompetent and couldn't pull off what Blizzard did with WoW.