Quote Originally Posted by davysez View Post
This is the biggest reason I have trouble sticking with FFXIV. In FFXI, you started out with nothing. All you could do is walk outside the city gates and kill rock eaters. Running to Jeuno for the first time and getting the chocobo license was fun, exciting and challenging, and also hooked me on XI for a long time. The first time I went to San D'Oria, I was lvl. 10, and just wanted to explore. I got lost along the way (no map, lol), nearly died, and eventually found a high-level who was kind enough to show me how to get there. I still remember the feeling of encountering new mobs, not knowing if they will aggro or not. After all, there was a real incentive to not die! Traveling was dangerous, difficult, time-consuming, exciting, and eventually routine, but going from one end of the world to the other always required a bit of planning and some thought, and maybe some time too.

For comparison, I started out in Gridania, and I don't even remember the first time I went to Uldah and Limsa. I think a friend ported me on the first day. Fun.

This post really makes me miss FFXI. In the end, I think it comes down to what developers and players expect to be part of "the game". Should traveling and exploring be part of the gameplay experience, or is it just a time-sink hurdle to be overcome? I think the same goes for leveling / grinding.
I also agree with the above. Having to walk and learn the path to each location, avoiding aggro along the way, is a challenge that can be fun and rewarding that first trip. I was actually shocked to find out that I could simply ask any player to teleport me directly from my starter location to any tele hub in the game in my first few minutes of playing, without ever having stepped foot outside my starter city gates. I didn't realize that until later on, and I am actually glad about it. It was fun to wander around learning the terrain and seeing the different mobs, etc.

I do think that players should have to at least walk to the crystals the first time, and then after that always be able to port to them. I am fine with there not being any quest or level cap to unlock the crystals, and I am fine with teleporting being available to any player of any level on any class. But it should require at least a little effort to gain access the first time.