Thread: What type of regions would you like to see for 5.0?

Originally Posted by Shurrikhan

I don't really care about what the next land is as much as how it's done.

Throughout XIV there's always been a failure to scale things in a way that seems realistic. How does a nation the population of which—at its zenith—was only some twice or triple that of Ulduh at most have a city some fifty times its size? How does entire nation of Doma have only some two villages' worth of population, and only one of which still producing or self-supporting? And how do you possibly maintain so many diverse and mutually semi-hostile tribes as the Xaela's in a land as small as the Azim Steppe?

The format always feels about the same, too. Early hub, late hub, and neither particularly a place any adventurers would have reason to hang around apart from acquiring and cashing quests. I'm not saying I want dedicated dungeon entrances or anything of that sort—gods no—but I'd like to see some variation from the entirely quest-gained-from-NPC-leads-to-nearby-area-to-kill-a-few-mobs-or-right-click-on-destinations-and-return-only-to-move-over-a-quarter-mile-and-do-more-of-the-same formula. I'd like to move away from the thus-far conventional take on quests and open up the world more to openly accessible lore, world story, zone thematics, challenges, and so forth. I want to see something new in its gameplay, mechanically and in gestalt, not just in its skin.

This 100%. So many places don't fit to scale at all. Even dungeons you can see from outside look so tiny but then when you enter them they are magically massive areas, (2 certain stormblood dungeons, dusk vigil, Saint Mocianne's Arboretum, Alexander raid) just to name a few. Im not sure why they do it but they do. I guess its one of those things much like the time zone difference, we just pretend there is more to doma than 1 tiny village and the destroyed village.

A zone that has a complex configuration of passage ways and tunnels connecting many isolated areas, and the connections change each hour according to some complex algorithm that wouldn't repeat itself for a year real life time. Inside the many isolated areas, there are special nodes for gathering that reward people who manage to get there by granting easy access to otherwise hard to get items in regular zones, hunt marks that drop mounts, treasure chest spawns, special boss FATEs that have a duration of 24 hours with amazing mount and glamour drops, even the entrance to a dungeon that cannot be accessed via Duty Finder, etc.

Nothing in the zone is compulsory. It's all extra stuff for max-level players.

Concept source: light novel "Log Horizon".

Didn't play 1.0. So I don't know what the Emerald Labyrinth is. Sorry.

exotic moon, jungle with moss and thicket covered statues and buildings, city in the sky, stark contrast color such as silver water and red coastlines, cyan grass and pink wheat fields, underground sewer catacombs, thick fogged marshes with a sense of dread, and more and more.