Something needs to be done about the empty open world

[Jeeqbit]

I enjoy FFXIV dungeons/raids but it is one of if not the most instanced MMO I've ever played. The zones are beautiful but the content inside it is pretty meh, and there's almost zero interaction with the zones per se besides MSQ. The only thing that make me interact with the zones is gathering and maybe doing maps (which are also another instance) and that's it.

After that it's either follow a hunt train or queue-spam at Limsa/FC point. Even Bozja which could be amazing Open World content they turned into a big instance. The fates don't really affect the zone nor gives a sense of immersion (like meta events from GW2 or night mobs in BDO).

You mentioned hunts and maps. These were added to the game for the specific purpose of giving the game open world content. You can also go there to spawn S ranks a lot if you want.

Blue mage, the class that could've benefited from Open World gets all their relevant skills from... instances.

That isn't true. You can get almost all of them from the open world because a lot of hunt and fate bosses also perform the skills found in dungeons.

Open World cannot even be used for leveling most of the time, since it's far from being a good, viable option.

This also is not true. Daily hunt bills and beast tribe quests are great experience, but there is a limit to how many you can do.

[StormyFae]

Honestly, not only does something need to be done with it, it needs to have some kinda foundation that feels good to do, like really good.. The reason open world feels dead to me is what we are given in the open world doesn't feel that rewarding to do.. most things you spend hours gathering don't even sell that well compared to minions and other things you can get from dungeons, I'm a little scared to start blue mage as it makes me worry it to late to get alot of the things due to them being "instanced" locations, if we got a fresh limited job that starts at lvl 1 it would really make me feel more comfortable with starting blue out (And blue mage is really my favoirt final fantasy job after summoner (but smn doesnt feel good here to me)

I just think we need a hidden reward baby for secret housing or even hidden glamors or something that feels just as good as poping into a q and getting that one thing lol

[Euphares]

-- FATEs are a good way to level.

.

Since when? FATES have terrible XP efficiency. As do sidequests.


While we're at it, the only actual efficient XP activities in this game are instanced. Meaning the open world is actually quite destitute.



If they really want to make the open world more lively, increase XP gains from fates/side quests by at least 500%.


Zero reason for quests to be so terrible for XP purposes in an MMORPG.

[Radacci]

Since when? FATES have terrible XP efficiency. As do sidequests.


While we're at it, the only actual efficient XP activities in this game are instanced. Meaning the open world is actually quite destitute.



If they really want to make the open world more lively, increase XP gains from fates/side quests by at least 500%.


Zero reason for quests to be so terrible for XP purposes in an MMORPG.

It's not really fates in themselves, it's their infrequency, as well as scaling HP, making bosses take as long to kill with 100ppl, as dungeon bosses with 4ppl. But if it didn't, it would be difficult to get any hits, cause the fate would be over in seconds.
So i guess xp should scale with HP as well.

[Radacci]

I don't think it should be defined by how many ppl are in the zone. It can be fun to just roam and look at the scenery, use /idlecam etc.
It would be nice with more Lively stuff like Roaming herds of animals, fish swimming around in lakes, stuff flying around, more ambiant sounds.
If the game supported VR, that would make it feel magical.

[RinaB]

I played wow for years before finding ff14 and empty world is always a problem. I always thought the simple solution would be to add group quests and normal quests with cool glamour rewards, pets, etc. People will go where the incentive is and right now, youre either crafting in front of market boards or sitting in your residence. Fates are group quests I guess but there's no reason to do them at max level. For example the quest in ryghals that gives you the head bandage was worth it for me anyways. I would actually like quests in general to give more exp because I honestly don't even bother doing any normal quests as the exp is so low and rewards are so minimal its better to sit in df.

[SannaR]

Even in XI most people stand around in a city zone near the Auction house. Half of the reason why you see anyone in the world map is most likely due to them needing to still finish traveling to their destination. As even though you can unlock a lot of short cuts there are still a lot of places that are out of the way.

Would I like it if there was more to the non instanced and non city portions of the maps? Sure, but I just can't think of something they could add or do that people wouldn't get bored of. Heck they gave us sight seeing logs and aether currents. One I doubt many do because it doesn't give much xp and the other people have been complaining about since their first introduction in Heavensward that is also a one and done.

[Hycinthus]

If you want to see people travelling everywhere like in BDO, then remove teleports. Just leave like 7 teleports to the major city hubs, then everywhere else you will need to travel manually. But not sure if this will solve the problem because now mounts can fly so you probably won’t even see too many people.

[ItMe]

Since when? FATES have terrible XP efficiency. As do sidequests.

While we're at it, the only actual efficient XP activities in this game are instanced.

They can be a little underwhelming sometimes, but they can be very valuable to the DPS sitting in que ; )

But OP is that all you're asking for?
Some non-instanced ways to efficiently power level?

[LogicHatesMe]

The issue of "empty zones" as you call them, is entirely caused by "Expansion" based games. I mean, these zones would be even more filled if new ones weren't added for story content every expansion. Imagine if they had to fit everything from HW to SHB into the ARR zones instead of adding new ones? There's also the fact that FFXIV is a game where EXP is generated primarily from quests and instanced content, as opposed to mob killing in open world areas (mob killing for EXP would allow them to vary the enemy level in many zones to accomodate leveling groups for example)

In short, this kind of thing happens in games of this style. As a gatherer, I've visited pretty much everywhere, and i always run into a couple of others running around. It's certainly not completely empty, but then I also realize what type of game this is, and due to that I don't expect a populated open world.