Thoughts on how to make the open world maps more interesting

[TKSilver]

Thoughts on how to make the open world maps more interesting, or
Things to learn from Guild Wars 2: Jumping Puzzles, Exploration and World Bosses

There are probably more than a few players out there feeling that Final Fantasy XIVs content can feel a bit stale or frustrating at times, and that the world maps can feel empty after a short while. Here are a few of my thoughts on what could be added or changed, to address some of these issues:


1.) Breaking through the core game-play loop while providing meaningful rewards.
While there are already many activities that provide alternatives to the core game-play loop, most, if not all of them, are self-contained pieces of content that provide rewards exclusive to them like the Gold Saucer.

A possible addition would be to implement jumping puzzles or other skill challenges into the existing world maps with a daily reset timer (character side) and rewards similar to treasure maps.
These could be hidden access points spread across the world maps that lead to separate flight-restricted areas. Potentially adding a sense of wonder and discovery, additional lore for notable areas and daily activities to the existing world maps.


2.) World Bosses that allow for players to group up and coordinate ahead of time.
There are 2 types of content similar to this in the game already: Hunts and "Boss FATEs", both having a common issue in their unpredictable nature.
Players and developers alike are aware of the issues caused by unpredictable hunt spawns and the subsequent "pre-pull" issues. Boss FATEs cause fewer of these conflicts, but still require players to be present at the right time or rely on second hand information, possibly leading to stress and frustration out of fear of missing it. In addition, the current Boss FATEs all only grant access to small pools of rewards, meaning that less and less players will pursue and share information about these as time progresses.

An alternative or addition to these could be dynamically scaling, large-scale, World-Boss type fights similar to Guild Wars 2, that have reliably predictable time-windows and extensive loot-tables. Fights like these could draw in groups of players ahead of time, allowing them to coordinate and prepare accordingly instead of rushing things, reinforcing a sense of cooperation instead of competition.


TLDR:
- Please consider adding hidden exploration/jumping-puzzle elements (possibly mini-instances) to the open world maps.

- Please consider adding World-Bosses that have a reliable spawn window, so players can experience "epic" large scale PVE fights without fear of missing things.

Also: please keep in mind that i enjoy most types of content in FFXIV, flawed or not, in some way and just thought of a few ways to extend the scope of interesting things to do. So please do not take this post as something along the lines of "waaah I want a different game instead of FFXIV"

[Raikai]

For one, I'd love if they made FATE system a bit better for the solo player. Maybe adjusting the number of enemies, or something to make it worth stopping by them, because atm it just doesn't.

[Doozer]

Sorry but as someone that's played GW2 and FFXIV, they would have to severely rework the way mid-air movement works in FFXIV to make jumping puzzles viable. The ones that are here are a nightmare to do because you keep all your momentum from your jump while in the air and have no way to control where you're going once you're in the air. I've done some of the hardest ones in GW2, but I struggle to jump on the summoning bell in my apartment because I go right over it constantly.

[KageTokage]

I do think we could use more Odin-like FATE bosses that scale well and have interesting rewards that will keep people coming back.

There are also some S ranks with 100% predictable spawn times, but I don't think it would kill them to have more.

[Arkdra]

1) Much as I would probably complain about this, add zone-specific currencies that you accumulate by doing stuff in said zone. Fates, leves, sidequests, killing monsters in long chains for the handful of people who really want that, and hunts. This currency could then be turned in for zone specific cosmetics. For example, ruby sea would let you get the confederacies outfit, a kurenai minion, and some sui-no-sato furniture.

2) Zone "dungeons". Basically a giant fate that spawns multiple boss fights and trash in-between. Something akin to that Uldah event for the last anniversary, but out in the overworld and triggered by doing fates. More cosmetics and orchestrions to be gotten from this.

3) Vendors for said stuff require defending on occasion, with gatherers getting materials for war machines that crafters then craft and people could use to fight off invaders and the like. Make better gear for the npc guards to wear, etc. Good source of scrip and tomes.

4) Eureka bunnies, but they have a chance of showing up after any fate.

[SturmChurro]

So, you are pretty much just asking for GW2 open world added to this? I hate jumping puzzles so that would be a pass for me.

[Jellybums]

Paintball, something like it.

[Soupa]

I would like something like 1.0’s hamlet defense or maybe rare item drops from certain world bosses to make people populate it. Jumping puzzles and hidden exploration are not my thing. BLU is a class centered around open world for the most part so that’s goin for it so I’m fully expecting them to take another look at open world content if they continue to support more limited jobs. Maybe dropping 32 bit OS’s will help with this too? Time will tell.

[Hercub]

Well, I've never really played Guild Wars at all, but I'm just not a fan of puzzles at all. I suppose the reason Guild Wars is free because it is series of puzzles? Is that like one of those pay to play games like Farmville on Facebook?

For new players, everything in this game is meaningful even Gold Saucer. I welcome the addition of gambling games like Mahjong (it is a gambling game that should be in Gold Saucer). So, remember everything in the game has to go back to lore that is why there two lore books just describe this game.

[Nalien]

Please please please add a second method of doing Hunts that utilises Levequests and a XI (oh no, I said the bad) style xNM progression system. I hate the whole "wander around aimlessly" method of doing Hunts, and the fact that you can't do them on your own time, you instead have to wait for them to be up? There's a reason I never do them. Final nail in the coffin is that the whole "wait for the entire server to arrive" culture has just made them into incredibly boring fights... By all means leave the current system in place for those who some how enjoy it, but I'd like an alternative... Masked Carnival is looking to be an alternative means of getting Allied Seals, but I'd actually like to do open world Hunts, just not with the system we currently have...

Something akin to XIs Zeni NM system would be much better IMO. Pick up a Levequest that has you fight the B Rank of a given zone, complete it and it drops a key item. Take that back to the NPC, trade in the key item, now you get a Levequest for the A Rank, and so on. For 3.0+ where we had multiple B and A Ranks, I imagine you could require key items from both to progress up a rank. So something like B1 + B2 = A1 or A2, A1 + A2 = S.

Even basic low level Levequests have mechanics that are more like an actual hunt than what we get with random world spawn Hunts, you could expand those concepts to have something really enjoyable IMO, something where you feel like you're actually tracking a target and trying to lure it out, rather than just flying from spawn point to spawn point... I also think it was a damn shame that we never really got any "endgame" Levequests, and a system like this would be perfect for such a thing while adding some much needed open world content to the game. Heck, you could even flesh out some of the lore behind the Hunt monsters with Levequests, as well as actually make use of these large zones that just have no content in them... How many sections of these maps just have no purpose? No quests involving them, no FATEs, nothing... Could involve those areas in Hunt Levequests...