SE going to gamescom...

[EdwinLi]

I'm hoping they may release some new 3.1 content info but as of now it may be too early since it has yet to pass the 2 month mark.

[Reinfeld]

snip

Many MMOs have zones with "elite" monsters. Open world areas with monsters that require a party to kill. When they announced Heavensward would have a "Sky" theme and showed videos of multiple players attacking dragons I could hardly be blamed for expecting they had something in mind like the Ru'Aun Gardens from FFXI (aka Sky). If you never played FFXI, it was *the* endgame zone for the expansion. Endgame linkshells had to camp Notorious Monsters or farm items off the trash there to get the spawn items for the bosses that dropped some of the best gear in the game. And reaching the final fight of the main story was actually dangerous and difficult even when relatively geared. I realize that unlike FFXI, gear in FFXIV is a commodity so such a thing may not have the same impact.

They could have made Elite monsters an alternate way to level (since some people do enjoy that method of leveling, at least occasionally) or a way to add the large party content that raiding FCs have been clamoring for. Something like various members would need to camp FATE's (or some kind of hunt on a short-ish timer?) in the zone for items to pop bosses that only they could attack and that required 24 semi-coordinated people (or maybe 8-man and 24-man versions with better/more loot in the 24). And as a bonus, such a thing would have quelled the complaints that "There's no danger in the world" by providing an area with REAL danger instead of the watered down version they gave us where mobs have slightly more HP/damage.

[Felis]

Honestly this is why I'm so sad there's still no real concrete news about a Korean MMO called Peria Chronicles. Literally one of the biggest features of the game is not only can players build their own towns, but they can also design their own quests that actually give rewards if players complete said quests. At least that's the developers' goal.

That will still not increase the number of unique quests. Most players will just create quests they already knew from somewhere else.

[lorel]

That will still not increase the number of unique quests. Most players will just create quests they aleady knew from somewhere else.

I am sure there will be a lot of quests asking you to find Mankriks wife...

[DreadRabbit]

That will still not increase the number of unique quests. Most players will just create quests they aleady knew from somewhere else.

And there will still be the few who design something truly unique. And those will be the ones that are remembered.

But that does bring up a good point. "I want more unique quests!" Well if we as players can't give a concrete example of what would be unique, how can we expect the devs to pull a rabbit out of their hat? We arguably play more games than they do since their time's spent making games, so we may very well have more examples of what we don't want to see. And yet very rarely can we come up with anything truly new.

[Tuathaa]

SE rise in subscription numbers since a whole shot in the foot Blizzard did with WoW over the course of the last few months.

WoW down to 5.4M subscribers. Loss of 4.4M since their last expansion Warlords of Draenor released.

Blizzard to announce new expansion at Gamescom
Blizzard forum posters pretty much up in arms at how blizzard is handling the situation.

SE Going to gamescom...i see someone at SE was paying close attention to the subscription levels at Blizzard.

This is your chance SE, you welcomed with open arms multitudes of players from WoW, here is your chance to claim even more! MAKE IT COUNT!

Announcing the xpac at Gamescon instead of Blizzcon kind of screams desperation on Blizz's part but realistically the players that SE wants to attract from WoW would get pretty bored with FF and go back. There's not alot of endgame to keep them going, crafting is a mess and the pvp scene is all but dead.
There isn't much in the way of replay ability and story content either to keep alt junkies going

[Felis]

SE Going to gamescom...i see someone at SE was paying close attention to the subscription levels at Blizzard.

i think it is more because it is the gamescom.
FF XIV is presence on the gamescom since 2009 (but not during 2011)

[Assirra]

More subscribers = More money
Money that can be invested in additional staff, development team, ect. More content, more of everything players ask for. That's what can come from it.

Or it turns into wow where it lost all reason and starts doing stupid shit.

[Gilthas]

snip

If there's something this game doesn't need it's camping. No one liked camping FATEs for quests and you want more of that? Crap like that needs to stay in the past.

I also don't understand this obsession with wanting overworld areas that require a party to get through. People that ask for this always have the romantic view of players teaming up to kill these monsters when in reality everyone would just MGS past them just like we did in FFXI. Reaching the final fight area of the RotZ expansion was only "dangerous and difficult even when relatively geared" if your party had morons that didn't bring along sneak/invisible pots.

[Nekodar]

Open world content...
Free for all and worthwhile -> see hunt zerglings
Free for all and just something for vanity -> noone will do it after the first days
Claiming party only -> claim bots galore
Tiered pop item party/alliance superbosses -> would be fun, but then everyone turns into pop item grinding zerglings

What would you do for something open world that doesn't end up causing more grief instead?