Expanding on Overworld Activities

[Kalise]

So... In Duty Fantasy XIV, it's a pretty established fact that the overworld areas in the game are a little lacklustre.

We have, the occasional MSQ that involves traversing the overworld (But a lot of its content then uses solo duties...), we have some side quests/Beast Tribe quests, FATEs (Which are a topic of discussion these days due to how... Well, pants they are) and finally we have Hunts.

Though, all this doesn't feel like enough to actually get people to spend much time in zones as opposed to just spamming duties, which are often more efficient usages of time.

So I wonder, can we think of any ideas for what could be implemented into future overworld areas that might be interesting ways to get people interacting with overworlds again?

Personally, I have a few of ideas:

1) Jump Puzzles.

Jump puzzles are cool. You can also try and get around the whole "Just fly to the end lol" aspect by have them be activated via a usable switch which prevents mounting (Like some of the side quests that auto-fail on mounting)

If they are re-doable every so often to allow for rewards multiple times it could get people into zones while they come to jump about the place for loot.

2) Shinies (EQ2, also similar to Archaeology in WoW)

Randomly spawning "Shinies" that upon looting gives a random collection item from a pool that is based on zone and area (For example, shinies near a river or lake might give pebbles, fish fossils, aquatic plants etc. While shinies in a forest area might give butterflies, bugs, moss etc)

Upon finishing a set of a particular type of item, they can be turned in to give a snippet of lore and some reward(s) such as a unique glamour item, minions, mounts, housing items.

Of course, this would only last a temporary amount of time due to eventually people completing all the collections... But depending on how many sets there are and the rarity of some shinies, it could last a while.

3) Zone Events

Essentially, zone-wide FATE type events, whereby something major happens (Like maybe bandits are being aggressive in the Shroud, maybe Imperials are making an attack on a zone that has one of their bases in, maybe Sin Eaters have come to attack a ShB zone) and players need to participate in zone activities to help defend.

Activities such as:

* Gathering exclusive items to aid NPC's in the defence.

* Crafting exclusive arms and armour using unique materials provided by different outposts.

* Participating in FATEs and combat activities alongside NPC's.

With the reward being a zone specific currency with the amount being dependent on your contribution. This currency could then be spent on zone themed glamour items, minions and other fun items.

[Lilseph]

It always annoyed me how interesting the world looks but it feels like a cardboard model in the end. Outside of FATEs and some one-time quests, there isn't much happening in zones that look quite interesting when you fly by. So I'll support any idea that brings life to these maps.

-Having played GW2, I would have loved to see the FATE system in this game creating a similar effect. Like, losing control of a whole town or changing the mobs in the area based on the results of it. For this, the rewards must be increased as well, as exp is no longer needed at max level. Maybe they can drop some sort of extra currency. Hunting seals come to mind and whatever they want to implement in the future.

-Stealing the idea from Eureka: Treasure maps can randomly drop untradeable carrots, which will summon a rabbit upon use, leading you to a treasure hidden somewhere in a random map (Coerthan rainbow carrot, La Noscean rainbow carrot, Hingan rainbow carrot and so on). These chests can hold fragments of a map that can be traded with an NPC, say 4 pieces to get a map. It would lead to a location where you can find a portal akin to the Canals/Aquopolis.

-Writting about the fragmented maps, I couldn't help it but to remember about chocographs. Maybe we can give our chocobos a "dig" option and have these hidden in the overworld map.

[Windurstian]

So... In Duty Fantasy XIV

Oh, that made me laugh. thx

So, how about tying some events in the world to dungeons? There could be an event before and after dungeon run for more engaging experience.
For example, let's say Haukke Manor.
Ghosts start appearing in Central shroud and attacking NPCs and players in certain areas. NPC does a shout about it in the zone and Gridania informing players about the event. Players who choose to now engage the event and after completing objectives get some rewards and have an opportunity to accept time limited quest to complete Haukke Manor. When last boss is defeated, post dungeon event starts and players have an option to accept it. For example maybe boss dropped an item that needs to be delivered somewhere etc.
There could be multiple events attached to a dungeon and they could be different from dungeon to dungeon.
For example, there could be archaerological mission from Ishgard to Dusk Vigil as pre event and treasure hunt as post event.

It would engage players with popular content they already do in a different way, more community oriented way. The event would be not easy. They would require a group or two of people from the same server. They would run around and ... do stuff in the world and share more chat with each other than they do in duty finder.

[MrKimper]

Botw climbing would be nice, pretty sure we won't get anything like that ever or at all, but it'd make exploration less annoying.

[Alaray]

It'd be kind of cool if World Bosses existed, there's the large Fates that sort of fill the role (like Odin/Ixion/etc..) but comparatively they're lack luster and there aren't many between points with them, or reason to do them more than a couple of times. And maybe having a few more of them, since it kind of just feels like there's 1 per expansion.

Something like GW2's reworked Tequatl World Boss, where there's some semblance of mechanics going out to operate through and so on. Although, for something like that to work the culling of the game would need to be changed, which might not be something they can do factoring in consoles.

But idk, I just figure it'd be cool if a World Boss spawned the zone changed atmosphere, not just weather itself, but the color of the area, the way NPCs behave, etc...

Kinda like, say if Innocence was one, clouds in the sky could begin to swirl around with an opening to a central point wherein a bright beam of light coats that landscape area, where it's more awash with color and creates a sort of "arena" with the edges of that circle of light. Instead of sort of a random platform (like, where Provenance Watcher spawns), with the boss being a bit more cinematic upon entry with more mechanical fidelity to it (like PW/Cetus/etc... or some of the Arsenal bosses).

And reward drops could be glamour items, or extremely low chance drops of things of value (not raid weapons/armor, but maybe crafting materials for the automatic five-slot materia item crafted items, like the Ornate armor sets have -- but I don't craft so I don't know if that would significantly impact crafters, but if the items were as rare of drops as, for instance, Skoll's Claw it'd keep a reason to do it even if someone had everything else, at least).

If more of the structures in the open world were both used and unused, too. Like having some operate as "open world" dungeon experiences, like GW2 had, but that's also just a feature of open-world exploration I always really liked.

Empty spaces just help facilitate a higher variety of places to go for particular groups for things like RP if they wanted, like numerous caves in other games, or deserted structures of significance to a group.

Open world jump puzzles with achievements attached to their completion with an overall larger meta achievement (with something like a title) for completing all of them would be kinda cool. Even if the jumping feature in this game is a little clunky, I'd take it for something to do when bored.

Zone-wide Fate-esque events in general would be fun, things that change the area temporarily for the duration and maybe have a consequential outcome if left alone for a period of time, with rewards attached to them to make doing them feel worth doing for people. Something to grind for, but in an event that feels more like an event over just doing 1 dungeon on repeat.

Granted I don't know what they can and can't do, Jump Puzzles and more involved/rewarding World Bosses I feel are more doable, than like, the style of open-world dungeons players can encounter by happenstance.

But it's just stuff I miss from other games, to be honest, that kept the open world feeling a little more active and important.

I will say I still hate WoW's World Quests, although most of my ire towards it is the reward structure sort of forcing you to go do them even if you don't enjoy them (since they could drop raid-tier weapons/give Azerite/Artifact power, etc...)

[MrKimper]

It'd be kind of cool if World Bosses existed, there's the large Fates that sort of fill the role (like Odin/Ixion/etc..) but comparatively they're lack luster and there aren't many between points with them, or reason to do them more than a couple of times. And maybe having a few more of them, since it kind of just feels like there's 1 per expansion.

I feel like they could at the very least tie some sort of gear to them, maybe the filler gear you usually get from inbetween dungeons.

[Kalise]

I just wanted to add a post I made on another thread here:

*Sigh* I still wish for some cool inter-connected systems. Like, rarer Leves that when completed, causes a FATE to spawn in the zone... Which could then give a special Treasure Map, that has a chance to open a portal to a Aquapolis/Lost Canals style content.

Activities that lead to activities can be an interesting design.

Sort of like how Eureka works. But instead of the initial activity being "Kill a bunch of overworld dudes for 10-30 minutes" they're actually fun and rewarding in their own right >.>

Could have all sorts of things interact with each other. Such as, completing a certain MSQ spawns a FATE in the zone!

Maybe a dungeon gives an item that allows you to a special Leve?

[Laphael]

1) Jump Puzzles.

No pls.

2) Shinies (EQ2, also similar to Archaeology in WoW)

Yeeeeeeeeesssssss pls.
Give us Archeologist, limited job DoL (for example)

3) Zone Events

sure, why not.

[Shougun]

1. I like jumping puzzles, even though I'm aggressively mediocre at them lol.

2. Can I suggest instead of archeologist we move those concepts into Chocobo Hot and Cold and other new choco content? Choco-eologist..? lol. Can still have some digging up the past content, I just feel not only does chocobo improve the WoW concept by default (no mount on and off and on) but it's more FF then :3.

3. My favorite FATEs are the large scale ones, I'd love to see some more with even more visual representation. Like maybe some hamlet / besieged sort of content. So absolutely a yes please, not crazy for FATEs normally but like the South Shroud bandit FATE is still one of my favorite.

[Vanitas]

People have been barking up this tree for years and the only updates we've gotten have been hunts and blue mage and the time span between those two is V A S T.