Open up the world, please! Part I

[Galka_Rock]

While 1.0 was not without its problems, it was nice how the world fealt truly connected. It would be nice to see the world reconnected.

The problem with this idea is hunters need to zone quickly from one to the next, and during periods of high traffic, zones must be instanced.

The solution is to allow a setting where one could choose between walking between zones or simply zoning as before. Such an option would be forced during high traffic periods requiring instancing.

The other problem is such a task requires a lot of work from the devs, but many players would agree that such an option would make the game simply more immersive, and make the game feel less fragmented. As it is, zoning sort of leaves something to be desired. With the dropping of PS3, I should hope that this option is back on the table.

Not all should be seamless. For some cities(Ul'dah), between the world and the city loading might be best. But the city states themselves should no longer be split up.

[Aphex]

This would improve the game tremendously. The less loading screens there are the more immersive the world becomes. I really hope this is already in dev

[Hyperia]

The devs gave us a choice in this matter, we could either have a new content such as expansions or we could have this kind of work done. The question I ask, would you rather have a new expansion or this?

[Chiramu]

The question I ask, would you rather have a new expansion or this?

If they made the world fully open then it would feel like a completely new experience.

EDIT: I don't mean they should make the "tunnels" on the map walk-able, I mean that they should think about how everything fits into place together. Put the puzzle together, work with the lore and figure out how people transcend flights of steps, how people walk the Limsa bridge etc.

Similarly like WoW map transitions.

EDIT2: For crossing the Limsa bridge it would be nice if they allowed mounts in city states too . It would be a really nice touch to have mounts in cities.

[Daralii]

If they made the world fully open then it would feel like a completely new experience.

EDIT: I don't mean they should make the "tunnels" on the map walk-able, I mean that they should think about how everything fits into place together. Put the puzzle together, work with the lore and figure out how people transcend flights of steps, how people walk the Limsa bridge etc.

Similarly like WoW map transitions.

It was like that in 1.0, and the result was corridors(canyons, caves, etc) that took 10-30 seconds to walk through because it was loading the next zone. The game's server infrastructure is a bunch of cardboard boxes held together with bubblegum and tape, it couldn't handle loading zones(hidden or otherwise) being removed completely.

[Chiramu]

I'm not talking of corridors, corridors don't put the puzzle together. The creative team behind FFXIV need to put their thinking caps on to work out how things actually fit together. Corridors do not fit things together.

[Galka_Rock]

I'm not talking of corridors, corridors don't put the puzzle together. The creative team behind FFXIV need to put their thinking caps on to work out how things actually fit together. Corridors do not fit things together.

In one of the map views, you actually can see how the maps fit together, though.

That said, I want to be able to cross the bridges in Limsa again. Or travel under the canopies in Gridania again. Ul'dah should not be seamlessly connected to the map, though.

[SonKevin]

EDIT: I don't mean they should make the "tunnels" on the map walk-able, I mean that they should think about how everything fits into place together. Put the puzzle together, work with the lore and figure out how people transcend flights of steps, how people walk the Limsa bridge etc.

Similarly like WoW map transitions.

WoW's maps are a lot less intensive than FFXIV maps. Not only that, but the lore was with long tunnels. You used to have to walk Limsa bridge. You used to have to walk under the canopies to leave Gridania. The main gate to Ul'dah was closed because they needed you to walk through the long tunnel to enter Thanalan. The lore excuse was security or something like that. You can still see those places in FFXIV. It's just where they started in 1.0, they become zone markers in 2.0. Things aren't placed willy nilly.

[Galka_Rock]

Wouldn't really be that much work. The transition zones are mostly already made. They just need to be retextured.

[Felis]

Wouldn't really be that much work. The tunnels are mostly already made. They just need to be retextured.

Not much work for the 3 original cities (the city maps from 1.0 just got halved to put in 2.0), but many works for the open world zones and Ishgard (there are more missing between the zones than just canyons, tunnels or stairs).

The 3 entrance to Ul'dah will get reduced to 2 again and will be changed back to the 10 sec walking tunnels.
The devs could put mini-zones between the zones to fill up the holes. It would be a good idea to put a sea zone between Limsa harbour and Vesper Bay, that allow us to swim or to dive ourself from La Noscea to Thanalan.

Instead in V2.00 we get a brief cutscene and then we're just instantly somewhere else, it's no different from teleporting.

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