Quote Originally Posted by Lemuria View Post
Virtually every MMO has difficult overworld content. It's the norm to have enemies which challenge players and areas which are considered difficult to traverse solo. Note that I say 'difficult' not 'impossible'. Final Fantasy XI had very strong overworld content, with even 'Decent Challenge' monsters proving more than a match for the average adventurer. It had numerous notorious monsters which would spawn randomly, adding flavour to the challenges and even mega bosses which would see through Invisibility spells and crush the unwary.

It lasted TEN years.

You want to talk about catering to the higher amount of players? This is how you do it. People get bored when games are reduced to merely grinding the same content over again. A challenging overworld stems this considerably by slowing player progress in a more natural way and encouraging teams where you may otherwise go solo. Teams. That word is not an expletive in an MMO, it's the core function of an online game. The idea is to foster healthy team relationships and even friendships, something which the current Duty and party finders are not doing very well.
Well said; totally agree.

To the OP, I don't think you're "old fashioned," I agree 100% as well.

As many have said in this thread, as much as I enjoy aspects of FF XIV, Yoshi P's choice to make the *Objective* the be-all-end-all has undermined one of THE most important aspects in a great MMORPG: The Journey. The experiences and relationships you build along the way.

Don't get me wrong, Duty Finder solved the biggest thing plaguing FF XI (Looking for groups for hours upon hours, or being shut out of parties because you were a certain job). Here, you can just queue up, and do other stuff in game, or surf the net, etc. until DF pops.

But it's also ripped out the HEART from what could be a great MMORPG. XIV as it is currently is very solo-centered, in that you can just Duty Finder your way to victory; you don't need to talk to anyone if you don't want to. In Dungeons, no one talks except for the initial "Hello" and the final "Good game" (maybe). It's just dead silence for most of the runs. People are so focused on getting in, and getting out (getting your Tomes or farming for whatever drop, etc.), it's become really impersonal and empty feeling.


In older MMORPGs, I remember seeing a newbie adventurer fleeing to escape a zone, training a horde of angry monsters that they obviously accidentally aggro'd, shouting for Help! It was great to go in and help kill off those mobs w/ fellow veteran players and give the adventurer a Raise, and buff them, and encourage them to keep progressing.

Or battling in a brutal Raid / Boss, and after multiple wipes, finally clearing the fight, and being able to add them to your Friends List, and invite them to future Raids to challenge the fight together.

Here, after a Duty Finder run, you're ejected from the Instance. No Friends List, No Need to Talk or be Personal with anyone because you won't see them again. And for Locked Out Content (like Coil before the nerf), you can't do Raids with people outside your Static anyways. You can't even help out fellow FC or LS members, or friends who want to do stuff with you, but you can't because "Sorry, I have a static, and we can only run it once a week."

If Yoshi P insists that all meaningful content is locked behind Instanced Dungeons (Duty Finder), then I definitely agree they should look at:

* Cross Server Friends List and Cross Server Party Invites.


This won't solve everything, but it's a step in the right direction.

And open world content with some difficulty would also be a GOOD thing: They've already *created* the world and all the areas. Why not USE it to good purpose (besides FATES in the same fixed areas)?

How is it a bad thing, if you're bored or want to Solo w/ your Chocobo (or Duo / Trio w/ some Friends), and explore the world? It adds variety and an alternate means to level or accomplish stuff. No one who favors this is saying to get rid of Duty Finder (it's still there).

I really hope we see more Design Changes that support and encourage the adventure and journey, and building relationships rather than what we have now.