Does Flying Kill Immersion?

[Xairos]

I'll say it again as I've said before. We asked for larger zones and we got em. Flying is a result as walking the large zones would piss off any player who did it for the thousandth time.

Oh and Fetch quests would love you to have huge zones with no flying.... extend that gameplay time.

[kuma_aus]

The game literally makes you ground travel around the maps before you can fly. The main story also does a good job of immersing you with the beautiful sights in the game. If that's not enough, the side quests draw your attention to some other sights as well and so does the sightseeing log. Heck there are some spots like some caves in The Dravanian Forelands which are nice to explore which aren't any of those.

You say "the only places retaining that IMMERSIVE feeling is CHURCHING MIST and AZYS LA simply because of the large structures but still is not half intimidating as it will be if you actually go on the ground and see the full size". Did you even look at the other maps?

Dusk Vigil, The North Star, The Dreaming Dragon, Slate Mountain and The Watcher are all great structurs in Coerthas Western Highlands, even if you look at them from far up while flying.

Chocobo Forrest, The Iron Feast, Sohm Al, Anyx Trine, Loth ast Gnath and some caves around the map are all great places in The Dravanian Forelands.

Great Gabul Library, Alexander, The Arkhitekton, Idyllshire, Saint Mocianne Arboretum are all great areas in The Dravainian Hinterlands.

The massive area to to bottom right of the map you can't reach in The Sea of Clouds, the different Vanu Vanu settlements, just looking at all the green crystals keeping up the different floating areas in the Sea of Clouds are amazing as well.

If the only thing that will make something "immersive" to you is "It has to be big and I can't fly above it to make it look small." the I don't know what to say. In 2.0 areas all you need to do is walk far away from everything and you get the same effect you get from flying above everything in 3.0 areas. The second and third screenshots you posted are all the exact same thing that flying does. You posted great locations that look tiny because you're so far away from it.

The only thing different is your first screenshot just because you can't get that great of a vantage point of it from far away.

So no, flying didn't break immersion of the game for me.

[Nalien]

Does flying itself kill immersion? No. This is Final Fantasy... There was always a point at which you started flying, well except beyond Final Fantasy X. Overworld monsters were never a challenge, you literally mashed confirm to burn through them without thinking, and when you got to a certain point in the game? You got a Chocobo to avoid combat. You got an Airship to fly over everything. This was honestly an expected addition long before it was announced, at least for me...

Does flying on anything that isn't a Black Chocobo, Dragon/Wyvern, or something specifically designed for flying (like an Airship) kill immersion? No, not really. Though I do wish they didn't go for this ridiculous "Everything has to fly now!" route... Magitek armor? Really? Seriously hope they don't listen to suggestions and give us a flying turtle/bear/lion/etc....

Honestly my only real issue with flying at this point is 2.0 areas not being updated to involve flying; Yes they're smaller zones, but most of them have a lot of empty map space that could be utilized to offer a Lv60 area in old zones that doesn't negatively impact new players, but keeps the old zones very relevant for Lv60 players. If you want to enjoy how grand something is, you can always land near it and look at it on foot... Something like the Dreaming Dragon I still find pretty impressive, because I farmed a lot of Gelato Flesh around it, meaning I spent a lot of time around it on foot. Does the fact that I can fly up on top of it make it any less grand? No, if anything that adds to it. Something like Black Iron Bridge? That is effectively the same as Highbridge for me, except I can fly to the top of it, fly under it, and if I feel like it, walk across it like a normal human being. I can only do one of those things at Highbridge, to me that makes Coerthas Western Highlands far more immersive than Eastern Thanalan, and that's because of flying...

[Eul]

I don't see it gonna kill the immersion

Spoiler below for Ixal beast tribe:

Even ixal made airship so they can fly all around Eorzea lol

[TheUltimate3]

As a long time player of WoW, flying can ruin immersion of the game world if implemented poorly or stupidly. Using my example, in The Burning Crusade it was hella expensive to fly faster than a epic ground mount, but it was needed to access certain areas. Overall it was cool but nothing to get pissy about (unless you were a world pvper. But that is another story). Flying in Wrath of the Lich King pretty much followed that as well.

Cataclysm was an example of flying done poorly. By allowing flying in Azeroth they allowed flying in all the new zones, which essentially turned them into giant "Go here to pick up quest, fly over everything and land here, do quest, rinse, repeat". That took the immersion out of almost every new zone in Cataclysm because there was no real point to them. Add to the fact that there was no clear path that one could follow if you didn't want to fly and you end up with large zones that serve no purpose at all.

Now how does this relate to XIV, XIV skirts really hard between both these extremes (in my humble opinion). Each zone requires you to at least explore the zone before flying, but the zones are clustery from the ground that you'd be crazy to ever want to run through it. Judgement on how they handle it from here is the real question.

[Gamer3427]

The only thing that takes me away is the lack of airborne enemies. We encounter so many that fly or hover above the ground, but for some reason they can't give chase when you fly a few inches higher from the ground? What?

Other than that, I'm okay with flying. I just feel that there needs to be at least a hint of danger in the overworld to make it truly feel alive.

Honestly, that "sense of danger" is fine the first time you enter an area. When you're traveling from one end of it to the other for the thousandth time to get to a fishing spot? That's when it becomes annoying. I greatly enjoy the flying just for the sense of exploration and the grand views you get when seeing the world from above. That being said, I mainly use it BECAUSE I don't have to worry about every trash mob I pass attacking me and making me move super slowly. If they turned off mobs aggroing on mounted players, then you can bet that I would spend more time on the ground, but that still wouldn't stop me from flying from time to time just to get from point A to point B quicker......

In response to the OP, I completely disagree. Flying in no way ruins the immersion in the game. It enhances it by letting you explore the world in a 3D manner, as well as prompts more exploration because you don't have to be afraid of being attacked and stuck with a debuff every five feet you walk......

[ElHeggunte]

I think it actually improves immersion, especially with the way SE implemented it (making you earn it per zone by questing and exploring). I also think it allows SE to make bigger and more dynamic zones with more hidden little spots to find when we're allowed to move in 3D.

[Avidria]

The same topic came up after fying was introduced in WOW, so in the latest expansion they grounded all the mounts. Needless to say it didn't take long for people to want flying back. Long term effects of removing flying in WOW? Well you have probably seen WOW's subscriber numbers dwindle in gaming news..? Bottom line flying is awesome especially to people who can't play a lot, which is most of FFXIV's player base.

Also I'm not saying flying is the only factor in WOW decline.

It was part of why I quit. I'd even go so far as to say that removing flying from endgame in WoW knocked my immersion down a few notches.

So the answer here, for me, is no. I like flying, and I like being able to view the world from a different perspective. Lots of great scenery out there, when viewed from up close and from afar.

[Jynx]

The open world currently is not designed to by dynamic or engaging sadly. Lack of flight would do little to engage players or imerse them when the zones are vastly empty wastelands content wise and challenge wise. If they designed the game around world traversal then flying would be a big blow to imersion.

But you can't be imersed in a world that doesn't have it. Getting around is a teleport and a few minutes away no mater what your doing, hopefully the next expansion introduces underground dungeons zones or something where they can actually design for interesting areas for exploration that don't allow mounts or flight.

[Ashkendor]

tell me who remember all those cool caves and places on AZYS LA? or the land scape on the CHOCOBOB forest? or any part of SEA OF CLOUDS? most of those zones are quick run over zones that already lost it's magic since most it you can just fly over them and never payed any attention and that sensation of large intimidating structures pretty much went away since you can just fly up and give them a quick look around and it makes them not feel "LARGE."
......
did flaying kill that immersion for you?

Nope. I love flying and everything that goes with it.