Am I the only one who liked Rhalgr's Reach as an endgame hub?

[RokkuEkkusu]

I've seen quite a bit of people hanging out at Limsa or Kugane. Heck, even Gridania and Uldah during the daytime.

But I haven't seen much people in Rhalgr's Reach compared to the previous End Game hubs of Revenant's Toll or Idyllshire.

Ever since completing the 4.0 story and the way both music themes are played, Rhalgr's Reach has a special place in my heart.

So what's your verdict on Rhalgr's Reach as of late?

[Theodric]

So what's your verdict on Rhalgr's Reach as of late?

Bland.

I've always felt a measure of distaste towards the vast majority of Ala Mhigan NPC's that we've met. Lyse didn't help in the slightest. I also found the Garlean version of the hymn to be much cooler, so hearing the 'subdued' version as the background music in Rhalgr's Reach just made me want to get my business done with as soon as possible. Kugane and the Doman Enclave are my hang out spots when it comes to cities.

I'll admit, I was kind of looking forward to seeing Rhalgr's Reach update over time in the same manner of Idyllshire. Yet that didn't happen so what little interest I had was eroded.

[ern815]

It's a cooler place than Revenant's Toll and the access to areas is easy but I like Kugane more for the oriental aesthetics and the liveliness of the city.

[BillyKaplan]

I'm forced to go there often enough but it's not fun to hang out in. The topography and structure don't let you pull all sorts of things like the mount brigades you saw in Idyllshire, mostly because there's a pool in the middle. The jumping puzzles there were nice but not half as engaging as Kugane Tower.
It's also v. poorly structured as far as locations go. Even the tomes vendors are spread out so you have to run around between them. If you want the scrips vendors, they're all the way over there, and the biggest culprit is that M'naago is a zone away from the vendor that sells the items to make her deliveries. Even putting an aetheryte in there doesn't work, because 1. why should I even use an aetheryte? why force me into a loading screen for that? 2. the distance from M'naago to the aetheryte is about the distance from Zhloe to her junkmonger.

Idyllshire had everything you cared about in concentrated areas that weren't too far from each other, and the rest of it was fun to explore besides. The Reach feels like they tried to make use of all the space they put in there at the expense of user comfort.

[alimdia]

It looks boring, bland and it's a bit too big so there's no cozy feeling. Every city you mentioned is at least not designed to look brown, gloomy and depressing like Rhalgr's, they really missed the mark with that.

At the moment I'm hoping they give us the ability to unlock tomestone vendors through enclave upgrades so I can hang out there instead.

[Alestorm]

I honestly wish Ala Mhigo was the end game hub. We when to Rhalgar's Reach in the beginning of the expansion and I dreaded it being the end game hub. Ala Mhigo has the potential to grow and change as patches came and went and for some reason or another it even has an Aetherite.

[Iscah]

I don't like either of the Stormblood hub cities that much. Primarily because of the music - I really can't stand either of those melodies. They're so repetitive! Compared to the other cities that have their own unique music that goes on for quite some time, spending any amount of time in either Kugane or Rhalgr's Reach makes me want to turn off the sound before I go mad.

Also, Rhalgr's Reach needs a marketboard. (As does Idyllshire for that matter.)

[Iscah]

I honestly wish Ala Mhigo was the end game hub. We when to Rhalgar's Reach in the beginning of the expansion and I dreaded it being the end game hub. Ala Mhigo has the potential to grow and change as patches came and went and for some reason or another it even has an Aetherite.

I feel like Ala Mhigo proper (as visited in the final dungeon, not the 'outer suburb' we can access in the Lochs) might become a true city in the next expansion. It's a possibility anyway, and it would make sense. Maybe as an early-game hub before we move onwards to Thavnair/Garlemald/wherever.

[Bonbori]

I've never thought much about it really. Rhalgr's Reach is my first actual end game hub. I started playing during SB so by the time I reached Mor Dhona and Idyllshire, they were already old content, mostly ghost towns, and knowing that I still had two to one expansions to go, respectively, I never treated them as end game hubs in my mind.

Even so, I think I enjoyed spending time in Idyllshire a lot more while I was still going through HW (and it's still relevant to me because of WT and Poetics gear I convert into GC seals) than I do in RR now. Brown colour palette and grating music aside, Rhalgr's Reach is just so... spread out I guess? As BillyKaplan pointed out earlier, M'naago is in the middle of nowhere as far as player traffic goes, there is only one summoning bell total, and also, something that bothers me to an unreasonable degree, the only Mender in the entire settlement... is completely out of the way of everything! He's in the middle of the map while everything else is arranged along the edges and *because* the size of RR incentivises using the Aethernet so much, I never end up visiting him along the way from point A to B. If I need the Mender, I always have to deliberately make a trip to him.

Also, another bugbear? Teleporting between Kugane and Rhalgr's Reach costs a fortune. Our two end-game hubs are literally on two different continents sooo... while 699 gil (with Reduced Rates II on) won't kill me, I still have that mental block that makes me feel like I shouldn't be porting between them willy-nilly. As a consequence, I always wrap up all my weekly business in RR in one go and spend the rest of the week in and around Kugane. Because between Eureka, HoH, 2 out of 3 Beast Tribes, Doman Enclave and Levemete, there is so much more to do in Othard. Meanwhile, Gyr Abania is almost completely (aside from Ananta) bereft of content that players have to physically go to.

[Luna-M]

Rhalgar's Reach have a purpose storywise but i don't feel its a hub. Kugane, starting cities feels more like hub.

I think one of the problem is we were introduced as early like Lv60-61 to Rhalgar's Reach while previous endgame hubs been you know, close to cap.