The World: so Big so Beautiful... But yet so empty

[TankHunter678]

That probably wouldn't be an issue if they removed hard zoning and made the world contiguous.

I am sure people loved running through endlessly looping loading tunnels where you saw the same rock in the same spot every 30 feet.

[Naunet]

I am sure people loved running through endlessly looping loading tunnels where you saw the same rock in the same spot every 30 feet.

Why do people think this is the only way to do open world zones? Surely you've played MMOs other than FFXIV 1.0.

[enthauptet]

Why do people think this is the only way to do open world zones? Surely you've played MMOs other than FFXIV 1.0.

It was that way in the past in one game out of thousands, it has to be the only solution!

But with that being said, a bit problem is a large portion of the maps are not traversed during story quests or just for one or two where we go and forget about it. One that comes to my mind is the right hand side and bottom portion of the fringes map. There are just a few quests all in the same area from the same quest giver for these areas so there is no reason to go around them and you don't see people wondering around either because of it. The lochs is a really extreme example though. It's a neat looking area with some cool spots but the lack of quests, things to do and 20 second looping music makes people not want to be there.

[Ultimatecalibur]

But with that being said, a bit problem is a large portion of the maps are not traversed during story quests or just for one or two where we go and forget about it. One that comes to my mind is the right hand side and bottom portion of the fringes map. There are just a few quests all in the same area from the same quest giver for these areas so there is no reason to go around them and you don't see people wondering around either because of it.

The SE portion of the Fringes is fairly bare right now due to it being the Deltascape entrance and the future base for the Anata Beast tribe quests.

The lochs is a really extreme example though. It's a neat looking area with some cool spots but the lack of quests, things to do and 20 second looping music makes people not want to be there.

The Lochs come off as if they designed it to have room for endgame content.

SB seems to suffer a lot from the "blaze through to 70" mentality.

[TankHunter678]

Why do people think this is the only way to do open world zones? Surely you've played MMOs other than FFXIV 1.0.

I have played other MMOs with the "seamless open world" which if you ever had slow loading were basically stitched together with endlessly looping loading tunnels, be they tunnels with visible walls or not. As the system still had to unload the area you were leaving and load in the area you are entering.

In going from 1.x to 2.0 they simply swapped the copy paste endlessly looping terrain for loading screens. Since people complained about the copy paste terrain.

So yeah, that is literally what developers do in attempting to make the open world "seamless". Partition off areas with loading walls between them and a section of the terrain set as the loading wall terrain. If you got a strong machine that is quick to load, and a good connection to back it up, it seems seamless when really it is not.

[Naunet]

I have played other MMOs with the "seamless open world" which if you ever had slow loading were basically stitched together with endlessly looping loading tunnels, be they tunnels with visible walls or not. As the system still had to unload the area you were leaving and load in the area you are entering.

I can climb over mountains and around valleys, swim across rivers, jump cliffs, and in some cases even fly from zone to zone in WoW, Rift, TERA, WildStar, Archeage, and BDO - and those are just the ones I've played in. NEVER have I felt like I was being funneled through a narrow, looping tunnel in the way people describe 1.0.