FFXIV dungeons are a little bit too linear?

[SuperZay]

They don't feel like dungeons. They are curved lines with only 1 way to get through them without split paths or other means to reach the exit. It's impossible to get lost there like in a real dungeon. You just walk from start to exit breaking artificial 'barriers' and getting 'keys' by killing mobs the only purpose of which is to make a short linear dungeon a bit longer.







And when you meet real dungeons in other games, you are shocked by FFXIV simplicity.

[Daenarys_Targaryen]

Ive been thinking this for ages its just a straight line with no variation. Now that we only get 2 dungeons per patch they are just so boring after months of grinding the same ones. I kind of expected more if they were only doing 2 dungeons. I think the same for 24 man raid its just a line. Wheres the variation and different paths the parties need to go along to complete the final objective.

[AlphaFox]

My thing when it comes to 24man is kinda like how they split the group for some of the mini bosses, have us have 3 different paths that force parties to actually split up at least and then perhaps converge together later on. However while I would like more complex dungeons, I'd imagine that when compared to what we have had a lot of people would probably just got irritated or people will simplify it down to the base "Go here, do this, dont go that way its not worth it!"

Unless the developers can somehow force it to randomize.

[elemental10]

Maybe make an 8 man dungeon that separates into two and have them both clear different objectives?

Otherwise, that dungeon design will only lead to people finding out the least effort path, nullifying the reason for "dead ends" and other ways to get to the finish line.

In mazes (dungeons), the first and foremost objective is to get to the finish line. Other optional routes to other destinations are considered just that, Optional. So either make those "dead ends" reward something unique or the extra rooms and routes would be just for nothing.

[silentwindfr]

Otherwise, that dungeon design will only lead to people finding out the least effort path, nullifying the reason for "dead ends" and other ways to get to the finish line.

In mazes (dungeons), the first and foremost objective is to get to the finish line. Other optional routes to other destinations are considered just that, Optional. So either make those "dead ends" reward something unique or the extra rooms and routes would be just for nothing.

exept if the monster are randomized in terms of position, forcing the player to explore the area. if you know the map but not where are the monster it's still ok, the trouble of the dungeon are the lack of replayability, because when you did explore one time, you know what you will face the next time.
a lot of game with procedural generation have appear in the few last years, why not use the same sort of system for the dungeon. if will even be ok to have only one dungeon if is well done. but they really need to work on this a lot... do they have the manpower for make this sort of content sadly i doubt it.

Why give players interesting design and content for mid game? I guess you're right, they admit to being lazy anyway.
"We just went to get to endgame content faster! (To become bored of it faster, of course!")
Endgame, which is a carbon copy of the (no) design of mid game.
So are we using this extra 30 mins of time... crafting? SE is putting it into new hair?

Heaven forbid MMO's retain some semblance of open world immersion that hooked players back in the day.
Heaven forbid players don't want to be hand held like children in a straight, somewhat wiggly line.

Oh... wait.
That is what they want now.
RIP the genre we used to know, RIP interesting game design, Hello more glamors o7

the trouble is actually what you do the most, dungeon or raid? if you look at them number, dungeon are far more used than raid... why that? because we need to do them at least one time per day for the cap. the mid game is what we use the most and actually is the less interesting part of the game. i feel they really need to work on it... but i don't think it's a question to be lazy, more a trouble of support of SE HQ that think that the same team is enough for support a game played by more of 4 million player. FF14 need to receive more support from SE, more fund for them game and expand them team for get more different content release. but soo far, for them FF14 is a succes, but they prefer invest in the fast pocket money that represent mobile. that sad, but it's the reality of the japanese market.

[kingatlas]

Yeah, I would definitely appreciate some real dungeons

[Felis]

We need dungeons again similar to old Toto-Rak


Many paths, many endbosses, but only 1 endboss can be reached depending of the path the party unlock.

Gather first all blue photocells to unlock the blue gate. Then gather all green photocells to unlock the green gate or the door of the first endboss. Unlocking an endboss door use all photocells and the other gates of the dungeon can't be unlocked anymore.

[Dererk]

We need dungeons again similar to old Toto-Rak


Many paths, many endbosses, but only 1 endboss can be reached depending of the path the party unlock.

Gather first all blue photocells to unlock the blue gate. Then gather all green photocells to unlock the green gate or the door of the first endboss. Unlocking an endboss door use all photocells and the other gates of the dungeon can't be unlocked anymore.

Thank you for showing this. This is what we need.

[Valor]

M

We need dungeons again similar to old Toto-Rak


Many paths, many endbosses, but only 1 endboss can be reached depending of the path the party unlock.

Gather first all blue photocells to unlock the blue gate. Then gather all green photocells to unlock the green gate or the door of the first endboss. Unlocking an endboss door use all photocells and the other gates of the dungeon can't be unlocked anymore.

People cried so hard over that dungeon. I loved it. But people seriously whined so much that they ruined a good thing and now we don't get those anymore. Maybe SE will change their mind in a few years. Community already sunk that ship though. Especially with how they didn't like having to pick what loot they aimed for each run.

[Veerne]

There's no point in making dungeons labyrinthine because people will always just find the shortest and fastest route to the end. Even if you were to compare MMORPG dungeons to single player RPG dungeons, you have to keep in mind that in singe player RPGs the dungeons are the meat of the gameplay, whereas in MMORPGs they are just one piece of the bigger platter of content. MMORPGs also tend to focus more on the boss challenges, not exploration, since exploration is kind of useless in a game where you are meant to do the same place multiple times.