What steps could the devs take to better the Open World in XIV?

[Gemina]

I would add beastmaster as a limited job that is essentially another gatherer in order to nip any idea of it being brought up to par with real combat jobs right in the bud.

[tdb]

One of my fondest memories of FFXIV was back in the 2.0 beta. I can't remember which phase it was, but DF had yet to be implemented, so if you wanted to party up for Sastasha, Tam Tara, Haukke, etc... you had to shout. It was very common for people to gather outside the dungeon entrance and sometimes make small talk while they waited for a party. It was a nice feeling. Made the world feel lived-in. I remember meeting my first group of friends outside Sastasha. We tried going into it as a party of 8 lol... Obviously we had to split up.

DF is, unfortunately, too much of a convenience to do away with. I feel like it is this type of inconvenience that'd make for a stronger experience. Much as I'd prefer it to go away, I wouldn't dare ask for that, since it'd likely anger many.

Besides the conveniences of allowing you to queue to multiple things at once, not having to travel to the ends of the world to do a dungeon and being able to do other things while waiting, the DF also guarantees a high degree of fairness. Different roles can have different queue times, yes, but no one will be discriminated against because of the class or race they play. Players will also get into the dungeon approximately in the order they queued, and no one can skip the queue just because they happened to shout at the right time for someone to notice. I'd probably not even play if there was no DF.

The one failing DF has is that you have to select your class before queueing. Most of the time that's not a problem, but sometimes when queueing for specific raids with a friend it's hard to know which configuration would get us in fastest. I would very much like some way to pick all the classes I'm willing to play and then have DF prompt me to switch to one of them when the queue pops.

[MsQi]

Make the world more "explorable". There are too many places you can't land and the ceiling is too low. There are all kinds of blocked off areas, which would mean designing and finishing those areas. More secret caves and underwater places.

More pathing NPCs and monsters that travel long distances across maps. Like peddlers that open up shops in different towns and then travel to another town.

Random things happening that aren't related to FATES. Monsters fighting, NPCs gathering for a festival. secret passages that open when the moon is full, etc.

Contrary to "more threats", I want more passive enemies (according to what type of animal it is) instead of everything being out to kill me regardless of logic.

like critters in WoW? Small animals like snakes, frogs, rabbits, etc.

[Euphares]

My solutions:
Critters- While they provide no material benefit, they make the world feel more alive. The game could use more wildlife that's not monstrous (also one-shotting things is fun.)

Random Events- Place them in spots that require you to go out of your way to reach (i.e inside caves.) Would reward people for taking the time to explore a map. Have them give worthwhile result for completion (probably just XP/Green item.)

An example off the top of my head:

You travel to the end of a cave and find a glowing sword in stone and a small plaque next to it that give some blurb about a cursed hero and a warning, interacting with it spawns what would probably be a F.A.T.E.

Once completed a ghostly hero spawns and talking to said hero rewards you with a job-appropriate weapon(scaled ilvl preferably) and a 30min buff that gives something meager like 5% dmg/xp while in non-instanced areas.

--
Obviously the novelty isn't permanent and it would be more or less useless to max players, but consider that having more non-instanced ways to get XP is sorely needed. Not to mention these things become more enticing once you begin to add things such as exclusive glamors or making the above events be the result of completing side-quests.

Speaking of which;

Sidequests- Probably one of the biggest factors in killing the world, they are quite bluntly just too worthless. Buff the XP by a very significant amount, make them reward items comparable to dungeon loot or at least very close to it, and it would do wonders. They should also be repeatable on alt-jobs.

-snip-.

There are ways to make dungeon finders more community oriented, you just have to be creative.

If it were up to me:

Each dungeon would have a leaderboard that could only be viewed at the dungeon entrance, could even be an NPC. Would show timings/total # of runs for both standard and undersized parties. Could have being in the top 3 or 10 reward a title similar to something like "Conqueror of X(dungeon name.)" Which I think would open some interesting RP-based ideas.

Each dungeon would have NPC's lined up near it that would showcase dungeon glamor based on job/armor type. Interacting with one would show the player what they would look like wearing it.

Making each dungeon have a shared shout chat, so when one person afk's you could at least talk to other groups running the same instance as well as your party members. Opt-out system included.

Some sort of system-side message that tells you if you've played with someone before when you load-in and what dungeon/job.

Commendations wouldn't be anonymous.

Examining someone would have an additional pane that showed dungeon history (last 5.)


There would have to be some tweaks to the above to make it practical for the devs/game engine, but making the game feel less robotic would alleviate a lot the "deadness" that is experienced when outside of popular hubs.

[Lily_Skye]

In Shadowbringers, the FATE system received an update in the form of bicolored gemstones. Which work as an almost GW2 like karma system, by completing FATEs in the Shadowbringers open world zones, you receive the gemstones, which you can turn in for various rewards. With this system I see alot of potential once it gets expanded into 6.0 zones and possibly even 2.0 zones and onwards. However, I feel that it's missing something. What would you implement to give players an incentive to engage in OW content?

Personally I would use the roller bettle race concept from GW2,(chocobo races in OW) or airship/sailing content to give players some spice of life.

drop ps4 support

[DPZ2]

An example off the top of my head:

You travel to the end of a cave and find a glowing sword in stone and a small plaque next to it that give some blurb about a cursed hero and a warning, interacting with it spawns what would probably be a F.A.T.E.

Once completed a ghostly hero spawns and talking to said hero rewards you with a job-appropriate weapon(scaled ilvl preferably) and a 30min buff that gives something meager like 5% dmg/xp while in non-instanced areas.

I see you, GW2 Hero Challenge-on-steroids. Even GW2 didn't provide such rewards.

We already have Vistas (how many people actually took the time to complete that?).

[Daniolaut]

1.)Create dynamic zones.
Places you can only reach once you unlock flying.
Add level/item level sync to open world/areas, much like a FATE so they can have a sort of high risk high reward area.

2.) Make FATEs more engaging.
FATEs mostly have a random spawn rate, and arent really linked. Make all FATEs linked, much like the big boss zone FATEs, but all close together, so you can chain them/enjoy them more. This way you can treat them like an open world dungeon run. Then for Big boss zone FATEs make them more high risk high reward. Currently the big boss FATEs are a 1 and done. Make them more rewarding for repeat, more exp, more gil, more seals/gems.

3.) Utilize all their systems more.
Underwater fishing, underwater maps, using the above, where only certain places are unlocked via flying, have a small gathering area, so you can fly there and not need to use your mount to go from node to node, so I can turn mount music back on.

None of what I listed doesnt already exist, its just not well planned to be engaging or weaved together. The "fly only" areas are completely dead or just have 1 unspoiled node. FATEs are random and a map watch instead of "open world exploring" and overworld boss/FATEs are all 1 and done with little to no reward for the effort after.

[Ceasaria]

A lot of good thoughts

I wish we could have all of this.

we have some mobs that become icons of the game ... Paisa? Flying Kittens? Have them run up to the player, non aggro and just look confused or have the kitten fly around the player

It would be so funny to see this.
We need way more different behavior of monsters yes.
I miss Old Diadem, Eureka and Deep dungeon contents...

[Lunalepsy]

Stop copying WoW at every turn!

[Thmas]

Wrt flying, dont take it away in special places, just make it dangerous, we cant attack while flying, that doesnt mean dragons/eagles etc couldnt. Stealth and other mount abilities could then be introduced as well.