Quote Originally Posted by Wasselin View Post
I've played GW2 a while ago and don't see how it's really that different from FATEs. I think FFXIV does an okay job at open world. I'm grinding FATEs right now to finish the SharedFATEs and I see people doing that with me. When I'm out gathering I see people also gathering alongside me. And of course there are hunts, which I assume people are doing since I see the messages about the ranked monsters.

I think they've got the right mix right now. Open World content is fun, but it's always kind of superficial. You see other people but the ways you interact with them isn't as deep as in an instance dungeon, trial or raid.
Just compare bozja to Drizzlewood coast.
Both pieces of content meant to evoke the feeling of being in a warzone, pushing into enemy territory and sieging their main base at the end of it.
One is a rewarding experience filled with narrative and map-wide cooperation, where even just getting around feels like you could trip over a skirmish at any step. The other has you running around waiting for circles to appear on the mostly featureless map with no tactical reasoning and hoping you'll get there in time, or grinding on a mob spawn cluster for drops to make other parts more engaging/possible. (Bozja, it's bozja that has you whack-a-moling events that just pop up out of nowhere in a featureless patch of dirt)