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

[LordSaviour]

They have said that they split the zones up to make it so the game is more widely accessible. If you look at the min PC requirements for 1.0 vs 2.0, you can see that they made it so.

BUT ... with that being said, in their original road map, they had the PS3 release 100%, it wasn't until sales and subs did not meet their projected sales goals that they scrapped the PS3 version.

I played XI on PS2 for 6-7 years and those zones were HUGE, from zone edge to edge you probably spent 15-20minutes running or 5 + minutes on Chocobo. The graphics, obviously, as it is a 12 year old game, were not as nice.

I bring this up in every post regarding current state of the game, Give them time to grow. The game has just released. I urge you all to look at what WoW had available to do in its 4th month after release. Go look at FFXI in its first 4 Months. Hell, go look at Diablo3 going on 2 years after release(even though its not technically a MMO)

[Dark-Saviour]

I bring this up in every post regarding current state of the game, Give them time to grow. The game has just released.

Hi Saviour. Saviour here.

As far as the world-design goes, I mentioned this in another thread (which was apparently deleted), but they've kind of shot themselves in the foot as far as scale goes.
They can continue to add and build upon the world, but every new area is going to have to maintain the same sense of scale unless they completely remake Eorzea again. Otherwise, it will create this huge disconnect; if Eorzea and Continent 2 are the same size on the world map, and Continent 2 is 3x bigger, then things just seem... off... Likewise, even if Continent 2 were significantly larger, if the towns/outposts are actually a proper size and more than 1 minute from one another, it again just highlights a disparity that makes the two areas feel like they don't belong in the same world.
:-/

I actually love the look of some areas in 2.Ø; in particular, the East and South shrouds look amazing. Everything just feels so bloody hyper-condensed though. Stumbling upon the Sanctum of the 12 felt amazing the first time... Until you realize that's the edge of the map and it is actually still just about 2 minutes away from everything.
I really would prefer large open areas (provided we don't get the terrible copypasta of 1.Ø [and the terrible aesthetic of its Black Shroud]). Ideally with areas you could wander off into for half an hour plus, rarely encounter mobs, and not hit any form of civilization. Honestly, that's one thing that really starts to irk me... When every corner of the world feels like its been settled and nature is never anything but a 'bridge' between settlements. :-/

[Calyanare]

Honestly, that's one thing that really starts to irk me... When every corner of the world feels like its been settled and nature is never anything but a 'bridge' between settlements. :-/

Considering that's how most of the developed world (barring Australia) is and has been for at least a couple centuries now, I doubt most game designers know anything different. I, for one, would find large amounts of wilderness with nothing in it with tiny pockets of far-flung settlement only at the far reaches, very alien, and overwhelming, even unrealistic compared to my own real experiences (yeah, I've been in real wilderness, but after I leave it still doesn't seem real--and at least in the US it is peppered with pockets of settlement, even if only a house or two, in most places). Maybe this is what people want in games, though; I don't know. I can see the appeal of that, but I can also see the appeal of what this game already has, as well: easily-traversable zones that remind one of real life and don't take forever to cross. One of the aims of this iteration of the game was always to be newbie-friendly, and large inhospitable zones are pretty much the opposite of that.