Open up the world, please! Part I

[KisaiTenshi]

Have nothing to do with 2.0, the same did the airships also in 1.0

It's pretty clear from the Gridania opening cutscenes that they had intended on Airships being how players got to these locations at some point rather than the Aetherytes, but I sat and watched one of these locations for quite a while in V1.00 and never saw any airship arrive, so maybe it was something that was abandoned before being just a cutscene. I had expected a similar effort that the ferry had where you actually were on an airship for at least a minute with other players. The only place they brought this back was with the ship to Kugane. (The very same ship model from V1.0 no less, if you watch the cutscene while you're on it below deck.) Other versions of ships in the game never let you go below deck other than the one at the Wolves Den.

What I really want is a large Airship like FFVI's Blackjack where you have a top deck, a lounge/quarters, and an engine room. But all airships in the game are these tiny rowboat-sized things that clearly weren't designed to fly around the world. Give me my large airship that I can either pilot manually or set a course and then go below deck and do other things.

As for the space between La Noscea and Thanalan, I think the Ruby Sea area was rather disappointing in terms of scale, they even lampshaded the fact that you could swim across it. The space between La Noscea and Thanalan is about the same.

[Galka_Rock]

That's why I mentioned Ul'dah should not be seamlessly connected. Not being allowed to walk in through the front gates is annoying because they are totally connected to Thanalan. However, Limsa had bridges, and Gridania had canopies.

[SonKevin]

So you're asking me to choose between long tunnels to act as loading between zones or a black screen with the name of the zone splashed on it? I'm going to choose the black screen. Most players would just whine that the long tunnels are too long and they want to get through them faster while having no idea that those tunnels are just there to slow the player down so the next area can load. It's like elevators in Mass Effect. People hated them because they were slow, but they existed to hide loading screens.

[Kaelah]

The reason 1.0s maps were so copy pasted were because the world was seamless. It's just too much to load with the maps we have now, you'd still have a loading screen, it would just have to be implimented so it could be hidden as mentioned above.

[Galka_Rock]

The reason 1.0s maps were so copy pasted were because the world was seamless. It's just too much to load with the maps we have now, you'd still have a loading screen, it would just have to be implimented so it could be hidden as mentioned above.

That's not the reason, though. The reason it was so copy pasted was restricted development time and using a poor engine for what they needed.

[Galka_Rock]

That's why there would be an option to turn tunnels off, as I mentioned. Not everyone would like the extra immersion. And perhaps it becomes something like... you have to walk through the first time, after that, there's "Quick transit" on/off.

[SonKevin]

That's why there would be an option to turn tunnels off, as I mentioned. Not everyone would like the extra immersion. And perhaps it becomes something like... you have to walk through the first time, after that, there's "Quick transit" on/off.

The logistics of your idea are just off the charts. Having an option to disable tunnels would just make tunnels an absolute waste of resources as very few people would ever use them. Not only that, but your "Quick Transit" idea is just a loading screen! While I personally enjoyed the tunnels, I did have gripes about them. I don't think I'd want them back, but then again I rarely do anything that requires me to actually zone to different areas outside of teleporting.

[Galka_Rock]

The logistics of your idea are just off the charts. Having an option to disable tunnels would just make tunnels an absolute waste of resources as very few people would ever use them. Not only that, but your "Quick Transit" idea is just a loading screen! While I personally enjoyed the tunnels, I did have gripes about them. I don't think I'd want them back, but then again I rarely do anything that requires me to actually zone to different areas outside of teleporting.

You're saying just what I meant, though I should have put it into better words. "Quick transit" would just be the loading screens with everything as they were with the release of 2.0.

Everyone TPs everywhere in the first place, so it wouldn't take so long to get around, even with transition zones. It would just be nice to see things get bigger again. Like in the Heavensward and Stormblood zones. Transition zones would make the world feel bigger again.

[BigRed5392]

So you're asking me to choose between long tunnels to act as loading between zones or a black screen with the name of the zone splashed on it? I'm going to choose the black screen. Most players would just whine that the long tunnels are too long and they want to get through them faster while having no idea that those tunnels are just there to slow the player down so the next area can load. It's like elevators in Mass Effect. People hated them because they were slow, but they existed to hide loading screens.

don't forget thpse mid zone lines out oin the middle of the zones. Like the one in thanalan. those lines that you would see ppl disappear at.

[Naunet]

So you're asking me to choose between long tunnels to act as loading between zones or a black screen with the name of the zone splashed on it? I'm going to choose the black screen.

Personally I prefer when zones are completely seamless and you can freely cross over borders - a la WoW, Rift, TERA, WildStar, etc.

I'm not against instanced zones, per se, but you have to make use of them well... Guild Wars 2 zones are absolutely massive and rich. FFXIV zones are stifled by invisible walls and feel very isolated from each other. It's especially bad in the ARR zones, but even HW and SB zones suffer from this. It feels like we don't really get any of the supposed benefits that come with instanced zones.