Open world changes?

[LogicMouse]

Scale everything up to your level instead of you down. Nearly every major MMO already does this
Have world bosses and world evens that are worth doing.

[Payadopa]

Scale everything up to your level instead of you down. Nearly every major MMO already does this
Have world bosses and world evens that are worth doing.

And give me an auto sync option while you're at it.

And I agree, FATEs or the overworld in general should me way more utilised. We saw hints of that in SB but it's still very bare-bones. In a game where you can teleport and fly everywhere and thus avoid everything if you so choose we should be allowed to have a more challenging areas.

[Mahoukenshi]

For that to happen, FATEs need a HUGE xp boost. As it is right now they give much less than the Pixie tribe quests (dunno the exact numbers, but something like ~2-3% of total xp vs. ~10% for Pixie tribe quests), and they rank at the same level of patheticness as the one-and-done sidequests with their xp yield. While the sleep-casting dungeon grind (sleep even if I haven't "mastered" the dungeon), still remains, be it with roulettes or spamming the highest level, the king of the grind. Together or better(?) with PotD and that other thingy (never used those two).

[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.

[RyuDragnier]

Here's another suggestion. You know that FATE currency for ShB areas that you can use to exchange for items, including rare crafting mats? Do it for the ARR, HW, and SB areas too. Add area Orchestrion Rolls, rare items and mats from the various treasure hunt portals (at a huge currency price), new minions, a new mount, and maybe a few unique glamour sets. Give us reason to go back to these areas, give us reason to want to FATE grind again.

[Saidosha]

Improving the overworld has been one of my big, long-term gripes ever since they nerfed FATE EXP back in the day to force people into dungeon spamming, which never really solved the problem of long DPS queues (the classes that most benefited from the EXP alternative) in the process.

As some others have implied, retrofitting new FATE mechanics like bonus mods, maiden pops, and currencies like bi-colored stones would help slightly, but it doesn't invalidate the times where FATEs aren't spawning or can't be reached quickly enough. The systems having greater influence and variety is also a valid concern, but I can tolerate a lack of zone-wide influence if the overall experience is still enjoyable and profitable.

I'd also say it merits revising the idea of ability syncing so we don't lose skills when leveling down, but it also calls into question that a level 70 doing FATEs in the newbie zones probably should be getting more than a few hundred EXP or so. It also warrants revising FATE scaling in real-time so when the trains do choo choo their way through zones, encounters aren't ended in seconds.

Can also tie achievements for the big boss FATEs to rewards like unique mounts, so if you've cleared them all per expansion, you'd get something unique to show for it. Things like Ixion, Odin, Behemoth, and the Coeurl could also probably stand to be more common and readily noticeable in their coming.


But really, I can't stress enough how much running dungeons doesn't appeal to me. I very rarely find them challenging, but at the same time, am also at the mercy of strangers not being derps. Chancing into people in the wild can be fun, but being virtually alone in a zone also shouldn't be a progression death sentence.

[GeminiReed]

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 hear you about the leves but I find the non-elite Clan hunts a viable alternative to the hunting logs especially since they're daily instead of one and done.

[Roda]

-SNIP-
This one is kind of a very wide group that's not just open world but:

Think role play and immersive thoughts. What? Lots of things FFXIV does well but this one I feel, in comparison to other MMOs especially, FFXIV does not. Too busy following formula and consistent rules. So like.. monsters that don't aggro you because they're not there just to be road blocks for gamepaly, they exist to fill the world as well. Not all monsters needing to even be enemies (critters for example).
-SNIP-

I pretty much agree with everything in this post but I need to highligh tthis because well it's one of the constant things that stick out to me about XIV's take on the open worldl where ONLY RELEVANT THINGS TO YOUR EXP BAR IS DISPLAYED.
Where the hell are the normal bits of wildlife??! Why is everything that moves giant and out to kill me? Why do they roam in designated splotches on the map like someone took a DIREWOLF paintbrush and dabbed it down on one specific section? Is literally EVERY BUG on hydaelyn a 200+ pound goliath? Every non-crotch-censoring squirrel the size of a small mastiff? Even in far more developed areas in the real world, where animals try to stay as far away from humanity as possible, there's more harmless movement in the trees and bushes. The only time I can think that I saw a non-hostile animal in the game is when I can gather a frog jpg out of a bush.

The oceans do an alright job with non-hostile wildlife clutter, but I find being able to target, and kill/interact with these critters to be a very important part of their implementation. If you can't interact with something in a game, it really might as well not even be there. (what with interaction being the main way we experience videogames and all that). SE, seriously. Put a dog npc in the game that isn't a part of a quest. Have it targettable and friendly and let it roam around an area. Let us /pet the dog. This LITTLE thing will bring so much joy. (Hell, have a hidden achievement to /pet the dog X amount of times with a title/minion/glamor item it'll be great. Make X like some stupid high number too. Island sanctuary seems cool, and I really appreciate it. But if you could take this kind of approach to the entirety of the already existing game world, I would appreciate THAT kind of casual content a lot more.)

And another thing to complement the whole of the quoted post. I really wish that the XIV dev team would take the courage of implementing systems like they did with Eureka and Bozja (not talking about the leveling or the actions, but the mechanics encouraging exploration, navigation, narrative, and discovery) and put them to the whole of the open world zones. I'm really tired of the majority of gameplay being locked behind a menu and a queue and the fact that they've taken two expansions to lock map-based content behind a queue and an instance timer really has put a sour taste in my mouth.

[gilmorej]

Enemies in general should do more status effects. There are plenty in the game to choose from and they're so rarely used. It would also make the corresponding potions that cure them a little more relevent.

No, we don't need any of that. I can't stand what this latest WoW expansion has become in regards to this kind of thing. The number of enemies that can CC you in the overworld there just sucks. It's not uncommon for an enemy that takes 30 sec to kill, has an ability that can stun you for 3 sec on a 10 sec CD, and you have to kill 15 of them to complete a quest. Obvious playtime metric padding and I hate it so much.

Do you really want to devote 5+ bag spaces to eye drops, antidotes, pincushions, etc? I don't because storage is already kind of cramped.

Those kind of gameplay mechanics don't add anything positive to the experience -- a monster isn't going to be able to kill you because of any of these status effects so it's inconsequential and purely adds annoyance.

Since I've already made the comparison, I'll continue and say that FF14 overworld is dream compared to WoW, especially since FF14 enemies have actual AI that you can exploit to avoid aggroing them. They either have vision or hearing, and you can move past without aggro if you're careful. Overworld monsters in WoW just aggro to you as soon as you get within X feet of them whether they are looking at you or not.

I think FF14 is way more sophisticated in that regard.

I don't want FF14 overworld to change, because grinding stuff in the overworld isn't even where we get exp anyway. We quest or do FATES.

I would like to see battlecraft leves make a return though.. I enjoy doing them on lower-level characters for a nice change of pace and to provide some context to what my character is doing.

[GrumbleBeard]

No, we don't need any of that. I can't stand what this latest WoW expansion has become in regards to this kind of thing. The number of enemies that can CC you in the overworld there just sucks. It's not uncommon for an enemy that takes 30 sec to kill, has an ability that can stun you for 3 sec on a 10 sec CD, and you have to kill 15 of them to complete a quest. Obvious playtime metric padding and I hate it so much.

Compared to enemies that do nothing but 1 or 2 AoEs that they share across all levels?

Do you really want to devote 5+ bag spaces to eye drops, antidotes, pincushions, etc? I don't because storage is already kind of cramped.

Yes? I would choose that over endless crafting supplies.

Those kind of gameplay mechanics don't add anything positive to the experience -- a monster isn't going to be able to kill you because of any of these status effects so it's inconsequential and purely adds annoyance.

So increase the damage caused? Have them combo it with other things, stuns/silence? You only ignore them now because they're so weak it's pointless to pay attention to them. If they were deadlier, you would.

I think FF14 is way more sophisticated in that regard.

I don't want FF14 overworld to change, because grinding stuff in the overworld isn't even where we get exp anyway. We quest or do FATES.

I wouldn't call the overworld being a complete waste of time to be in for 99% of the time sophisticated.

Regardless, it's just my opinion. At the end of the day, I'm not going to lose sleep over the state of the overworld. As it stands though, it's not enjoyable in any way to traverse or explore, or kill enemies, or do anything really and I would like it improved.