Open world changes?

[ReynTime]

Overworld is pretty dead imo, here are some garbage ideas.

* More densely packed mobs
- As it stands, mobs are very sparse w/ numbers on the open world. Could certainly benefit from larger packs.

I disagree completely.
Heavensward onwards because almost every mob is aggressive, it doesn't matter how pretty the areas look, it's not fun to explore on foot because monsters are haphazardly spread and being an inconvenience if you're not past that expansion's range. One thing I'll give 1.X credit for (well, in general open world content was, IMO, better in 1.X) is that despite having mostly crap looking copy-paste terrain it was easier to explore even the dangerous areas by foot/chocobo than it is to explore post ARR zones in their level range.
If we're supposed to wait until unlocking flying to finally be able to explore in relative peace I'll just continue to shrug at whatever effort they put into making maps look great when seen from afar, because to me that doesn't matter much when they're annoying to explore if I keep feet on the ground.

* Adjust EXP
- Make it so grinding overworld mobs could be a viable method of leveling. Doesn't have to go overboard to invalidate everything else, but would be nice.

That was the point of levequests, hunting log and fates. But they just abandoned battlecraft leves and hunting logs very early instead of tweaking them to keep them as slower but still alternative to duty grind. I think at the very least they should have made battle leves past lv58. Fates exist, but personally I like having leves to take on my own pace and without blu- I mean, other players threatening my rank when I want as much exp as possible. Besides, levequests can be taken in parties too. Making it so only one player spent the allowance would make these more handy I think.


Personally I just wish they'd bring back caravan escorts and hamlet defense. They were little things that made the overworld feel more alive IMO. The escort fates are super simplified in comparison and they don't feel as immersive.
Open world dungeons would be great too, although they'd have to serve a different purpose to instanced duties. I remember Yoshi-P saying one of the designers wanted to bring open world dungeons back but nothing seems to have came out of that.

I'll also add that, in my humble opinion I'm sure majority will disagree with, relics should never have been tied to their own "large scale instances" and instead should have continued to be associated with activities in the existing maps and duties. That was another thing I'll, without shame, give 1.X credit for.