Some things I think need to be brought to attention

[Susanoh]

I think what Sotek is trying to convey is that no matter how much "exploration" you put in an MMO, eventually it will become stale. No matter how many nooks and crannies SE throws into a zone, people who care -will- find them all. Then what? It's why I also don't understand what people are wanting when they say they want exploration.

The only way I can see these people being happy is if there were randomly generated zones ala Minecraft worlds that you enter with random chests and puzzles scattered throughout. As cool as that would be, I can't even begin to imagine how much work that would take to accomplish successfully.

Yeah, I get that point, and it's well taken.

But I'd like to note that while randomly generated zones is another subject entirely, it wouldn't take something on that scale to please me personally. I'd settle for a world that was fun to explore the first time and had enough scale and variety that it remained interesting enough to exist in even it it had been explored in its entirety. I don't think the ARR world is terrible (edit: or what's there right now, I should say), I just think it feels unfinished and bare due to the devs choosing to make anything beyond the most basic open areas instanced.

[Dyvid]

I think the key issue with dungeons is old school perception. People who played EQ or FFXI look at dungeons like Garlaige Citadel, Eldieme Necropolis, or even Grand Palace of Hu'Xzoi but that's not FFXIV or modern MMOs anymore. People toss the word theme park around a lot so let go with that. If FFXIV:ARR is a theme park than instance content is the ride. It's set on rails and allows the dev to create a unique experience that you just can't do in open world content. Think of a boss fight and then imagine what it would like as a FATE with everyone in range zerg.

Remember that 2.0 is a early in it's life and that expansion of the world takes time. It's also fair to note that they rebuilt the entire world in under 3 years which is a huge undertaking. In a recent interview Yoshi-P said he wants add more exploration into the game.