Instance vs Open-World: what do you want more of?

[Renik]

This game already have instances and SE is going to add even more, is time to develop open world content, i think the new areas should be dangerous for high lvl players, ilvl90-100+, full of dungeons and NMlike fates(so everyone can get the reward based on participation, but you lose part of the participation if you die and all of it if you return), with some dodge mechanics like titan plumes, of course the maps should be huge and very low on aetherytes, maybe just one in the entrance.

There are ways to make fun and difficult open world content, we just have to think about it and not just reject it, also i getting claustrophibic with so much instance, i'm sure i'm not alone

[Malamasala]

Open world content is like communism. Good in theory, but never works in real life.

For example it is fun to walk around the world and run into a big nasty monster and call for help and beat it down. But in reality you won't run into a monster, you will run into 100 people camping the spot with bots to claim it.

Same with the so called dangerous area. We all know how those areas were solved in FF11. Sneak + Invis because it takes too much time to kill trash mobs on the way. So in this game if we had an area with dangerous monsters, your solution would be to chocobo past them due to them giving up, or changing class to DoL and invis past them. Worst case nothing of this works, but you'd still try and run behind every mob and yell insults at any team member who screws up sneaking past.

[Aery]

I'd like to have a lot more Open World content.
Pretty sad with how it is right now, most of the content is instanced.
It feels like most of the groups of players just keep to themselves and do their instanced stuff.

Open World content would encourage engagement, interaction and competition between players.
It doesn't have to be anything crazy like HNMs from FFXI. But I liked the concept of Sky and ZNMs too.
I'd just like to see(actually see!) other players do content too, as well as have content not as limited ( 8 players only ).

So, i'm all in for Open World, I think it would give this game more of a MMO feel as well as give FCs more purpose.

[Amberion]

I have never understood people who like or want instances in an MMORPG. An instance is pretty much the complete opposite of what MMO stands for.

[Xatsh]

Open world content makes the game feel alive, it makes it feel like a world, it is what make a good mmo in my opinion. The ability to interact with the world around you, not just your closed circle of friends. There is something about clicking the find duty or click a dungeon => warp there that just takes away so much from what makes a mmo special.

Instances close off the world and turn things into a lobby server style of gameplay. This should be limited not a focus ever. It is a path the genre has been moving which has been eating away at what makes a mmo a mmo.

Should there be instances yes, should the game be focused on them... no. There needs to be in my opinion a 50/50 mix of open world content and instanced content. The open world needs meaning as well, not just filler content.

[TheUltimate3]

As long as said open world content doesn't end up deserted after a few content patches.

[Gramul]

Some open dungeon like areas would be nice.

[Roris]

More open world content and a more open world in general, not these tiny maps with settlements everywhere, even though the Calamity was supposed to have destroyed more than it built.

[Volsung]

If fates are going to continue, they need more soul. As it stands mobs die TOO fast, and its just
a spam fest. This may change as the game is expanded upon and the cap is raised. We need bosses
with multiple parts to attack, relics to protect that provide buffs, specific targets that when killed
change the flow of battle etc.

Add USEFUL drops to NM Fates.

Add close to top tier gear to tough fates, more like odin and behemoth. Give a slight drop increase %
for the claiming party (like 2%) to increase that feeling of competition and have drop rate tied to rating.
Not full sets of gear, but like "a" headpiece for one class and a weapon for another, from ONE of the fates.

Dont need full sets, that will take away from current end game stuff.

Add overworld ladder pop tiers, and cool objectives, that you can bring anywhere from 4 to 24 of your FC into.
everything atm is 8 person only, lock out. This means you're either in the in crowd, or not, or if you miss a run
you can't join mid way cause theyre capped. overworld lets people come and go and everyone take place. Its
not so exclusive.

[Airget]

For 14 the game is designed as PVE a heavy focus on PVE, placing things in instances is to prevent the nasty variable of trolls and other groups attempting to kill a group in a PVE environment.

Just take XI as an easy example, claiming mobs was both time consuming and annoying, and even when you claim the mob, you would open that's it and more often than not it was but there were those occassions when the person that lost would attempt to kill your group by drawing in mobs or other obnoxious actions to cause mischief towards the group in the PVE environment.

Instances are used to prevent this and if you want to blame anyone for the focus on the instance content just look at your fellow players that used tactics like killing other players and lagging out players in a PVE environment where the only variables for that fight should of been the players skill against the monster.

Instances just allow the developers to have an easier time to focus on making content and it also allows for less time to be spent wasted on having to file reports for wiping another group, ruin the experience for other players and allows players to focus more on playing via skill.