Dangerous Areas

[Okamimaru]

I'd be happy with being able to fall to our deaths again

[HelSpites]

What do you suggest the consequence be? I would be absolutely content with the system they have in Eureka where you lose a level should you die in the area. If not that then make the area non mountable having to run/walk to explore.

Not to sound too aggressive here, but uh, you're just a font of bad ideas huh? Forcing players to walk through the zone? Yes, because taking away features players have come to expect has been so well received in other games. Take some time to take a quick look at WoW's forums. See if you can find any topics on the subject of flying mounts. I imagine it would go over as well here as it has there.

As for your suggestion that players lose levels; why? This works in eureka because eureka levels are part of a self contained system. If players could actually lose character levels, why would anyone set foot in there? What reward could possibly be good enough to justify taking that risk. I don't think “rare mats” would cut it.

it would also bring a sense of adventure back to the world which really feels devoid and wasted atm.

This right here is the idea that I see banded about every time someone makes this topic. You're going to have to explain what exactly you mean by “a sense of adventure”. I think you might have constructed a bit of a fantasy in your head about how a zone like this might play out.

Let me guess, you imagine people gathering up outside, talking to each other and forming parties so they can brave the depths of this new zone and fight the monsters inside. Crafters and gatherers would get together parties of mercs to protect them while they go into the zone to get what they need. That wort of thing, right? That's not at all how it'd work out.

Mmo players will always find the path of least resistance and take it, especially when the reward doesn't fit the risk. What would actually happen is players would go into the zone as a ninja or a gatherer so they can sneak past the mobs. If the mobs can see through invisibility like they can in diadem, that zone's as good as dead at launch. If the mobs in the zone drop anything worth anything, players will form a giant deathball and zerg the zone for, maybe a week or two after launch, then the zone'll be dead. Neither sounds like much of an adventure to me.

If you want a challenge, do some instanced content. If you want a challenging overworld to explore, don't play an mmo. Single player games have got you covered there.

[Abelfei]

I am not against this. Eureka was a small attempt at this. I personally look back at FFXI and they did this, and it brought every zone alive, and is memorable for it to this day.

[aesteval]

You can try to pretend Eureka doesn't count all you want, but that is exactly what we have in Eureka. We don't need more of the world being a tedious slog while trying to do day to day stuff or have additional resources funneled into it.

[BreyVoreas93]

@Helspites, Be as aggressive as you need to be, you seem to be talking about how this wouldn’t work but please give a better idea for how they can energize these zones...or at minimu and I suggested a zone. Talking negatively is all good but if that’s all your offering move along or present what you think would work. I can tell you FFXI did this and it worked well, granted that wasn’t the casual playground that FFXIV has become.

The point is I have been playing since day one, love the game, and would like to see something offered to those of us interested in content like this. Ppl who don’t want it, don’t go into the zone, I’d prefer it that way honestly. Don’t get n the (go do raids talk either) after 5 years many of us get tired of doing the same types of content. It’s not for a lack of engaging in it.

[HelSpites]

In your first post you asked for people's thoughts and asked if anyone disagreed. Well, here I am, not agreeing. It's not my job to come up with a way to make these zones work when they're not something I'd want in game anyways. You and a handful of others might want this type of content, but I certainly don't, and, between the failure that was diadem and it's revision, and the all the complaints you see cropping up about eureka, I don't think the average player does either. The only reason eureka's active at all is because it's the only way to get this tier of relics.

FF11 was a product of it's time. It did as well as it did because every mmo at the time was a massive slog. You can't really compare it to FF14.

So, yeah, you can go ahead and figure out how your idea would work. I'll be here to explain why it won't. Personally, I'd rather the devs spend the resources that would be wasted on an open world zone building more interesting instanced content.

[LineageRazor]

Dangerous zones, both in this and other games, are only dangerous until you figure out how to handle them. THAT is the experience that long-time gamers find so satisfying - knowing that a zone can kick their ass, but are still masters of that zone regardless.

One example that I bring up time and again from my own experience in FFXI, was mining in Ifrit's Cauldron as a level 30ish Red Mage, Ifrit's Cauldron being a zone that could easily wipe out an incautious max-level player. Even max-level players rarely bothered to mine there because it was so dangerous, and some of the ores you could dig up were very valuable as a result. Certainly, I died frequently at first, and occasionally later on - but I became practiced at avoiding the enemies, finding my way around the confusing dungeon layout, mining while enemies' backs were turned, and so on and so forth. Every trip there was thrilling. I was a master of the domain, and even at max levels others looked to me for guidance when they needed to go someplace in Ifrit's Cauldron.

I found Eureka to be similarly exhilarating. While riding around from NM to NM with the horde as a low-level player was generally pretty safe, solo activities like going to the quest locations, or even just getting to the train in the first place, was still dangerous. By the time I was done with Eureka: Anemos, I was confident in my ability to safely navigate even the most dangerous areas.

That is what folks who create threads like this are longing for. They want to be challenged by the world, and to be able to rise up and overcome it. Not just by leveling and gearing to the point where everything dies to a harsh glance, but to be able to survive and thrive in actively hostile and still dangerous areas like they own the place.

[Gurney]

Hope you had a Ice Cluster to get past the Lava Wall.

[Enla]

Wasn't the original Shroud from back in 1.0 essentially this? A maze where if you weren't careful you ran the risk of running smack dab into mobs you couldn't handle?

[Niwashi]

If you want a dangerous overworld, just level a new class or new alt. There are dangerous areas in the world until you over-level them. It's just that by endgame, you've over-leveled all of them. At that point, you need to go to instances to find challenge.