Suggestion [remove Aether Currents as a catch up mechanic]

[Artemiz]

I personally don't see the need for aether currents at all to be honest. The MSQ is more than capable of exploring all the zones. If we unlocked flying by default after completing the x.0 story I wouldn't exactly complain.

[DBriggs304]

perhaps you prefer the system in WoW?

While I personally liked Pathfinder in WoW (cause of the account wide trade off for flying afterwards) you still a gated by when THEY say you can fly (usually at least a year after launch). Here, you play the game, get the currents, and have flying (usually when done with zone story) but it's already there for the hunts, fates, and btribe quests.

I prefer our system over wow's as well.

[Packetdancer]

I haven't found any huge reason to have flying on the maps once the MSQ takes you away from them.

I have them on my main and I've got an alt that's only gotten a few of them and I've not been terribly inconvenienced by not having flying unlocked on those maps. And my alt has completed all currently released MSQ and is waiting for Endwalker to release.

Mostly it's useful if you're a crafter/gatherer and want to be able to gather materials for crafting gear and such (witness zipping around to gather things to make Exarchic gear for your alt jobs or whatever), or if you run treasure maps with any sort of regularity. Having flight for those is useful (in the case of the maps) or even necessary (in the case of gathering, as some gathering nodes cannot be reached without flight).

[Neoyoshi]

Just think, you only have to do them all once. Unless you have a bunch of alts.

Unlocking flying could be much MUCH worse if one looks at... ehem; another example of it.

[TheMightyMollusk]

The only field aether current I really hate going for is one in the Lochs that requires going halfway across the zone, through the crypts, across another plateau, and then jumping across a wall to reach it. That one can go straight to the lowest of the nine hells.

I don't mind the current system (as has been mentioned before, there are much worse alternatives), but I wouldn't object to seeing the field aether currents reduced or removed for past expansions. The quest currents work well enough as a broken bridge to keep people from going to the wrong parts of zones too early where that's important (the Sea of Clouds, Azys Lla, the Fringes, the Peaks, Ahm Areng, and Kholusia).

[Holystyle]

the aether currents where added with heavensward as a way to slow down the player to force them to quest at slower pace

HOW is that even possible with portals everywhere?
It takes more time TO TALK WITH NPC and read dialogue/watch some non voiced cutscene then actually travelling or even doing combat in quest .

#limit flying. with portals everywehre it is joke lol.

[Myrany]

Another option is to make friends with someone that has a 2 person mount. Find them a list of where all the exploration currents are. Get flown to all of them. Done in nothing flat.

Me I actually LIKE hunting down the aether currents and really would not like to see it changed. Its one of the things I look forward to when questing in a new zone. Keeping my eyes open for the currents as I quest through and then going back to find the ones I missed has become a game in itself for me. Can I do this zone without missing any?

[Alxyzntlct]

The mechanic is just fine the way it is. I don't support their removal or making them any easier than they are already.

I agree with LaylaTsarra 100%; as a relatively new player myself, I found my experience with collecting Aether Currents to be a pleasant addition to the entire questing/exploration process and haven't had literally any issues with it at all during the entire time I've spent leveling and making my way to current content.

If anything, I actually really like how it's been implemented:
- The environments are absolutely gorgeous, so have an additional excuse to explore is all kinds of awesome
- Collecting them is SUPER easy via using the Compass while playing through the story
- It's incredibly satisfying hitting that point where you know you're wrapping up an area and get that unlock notification, which subsequently leads to Flying which is all kinds of awesome

So yeah, not only do I hope that it stays the way it is, I hope it continues the way it is.

I too came from WoW and found that system incredibly dis-satisfying in contrast, considering how initially it was just a purchase, then given, THEN required jumping through all kinds of hoops, then more hoops, then wound up just being given whenever the Devs got tired of yanking the players around.

Aether Currents are awesome and I hope they stay as they are.

[Iscah]

Just gonna throw my two cents in here but I do agree that aether currents should probably be removed. They weren't/aren't fun, and not every player has the foresight to do them in tandem with MSQ progression. More importantly, unlike other major barriers like MSQ and leveling, they will always be a barrier to new players because they aren't covered by story skips on the mogstation.

They actually are included in story skips.

And I don't think they're much of a chore anyway. I'd sooner see them removed from sidequests than the overworld.

[AusarViled]

- regarding path finding in WoW, it’s not intrusive. Mounts in WoW are much faster then the mounts in FF14. Here the mounts in new areas are almost same speed as sprinting, which makes them virtually useless. This psychological harms the player every time, because the moment you gain a mount speed increase, your gone from zone in ff14 and back to snails pace.

Likewise, paths are always in useful spots, in FF14, they never are. What is the point of a porter when it’s 20 feet from the crystal that I can teleport too? In FF14 they are always a hinderance as they are not where I need them.

By the time you unlock flight through in the region, it’s over, if the side quests where unlocked the moment one entered the maps, and the msq one was very early into the map, then it would be useful. This system punishes you for trying, and punishes you if you don’t. The result is burn out.

- mounts / flight cost a lot in WoW… not true. Even in cata you could go to goldshire inn, and role play for like a day and get enough gold to fly, it really was a not issue. Once you unlocked, it would last you for the entire expansion, not 1 hour while your getting burdened psychologically by moving at -300%. [feels]

Flight in WoW, was also rewarding. I greatly prefer the divide of land/ flight mounts, and find it weird and awkward how it is in FF14. The larger mounts make you feel like your moving at -1000% speed. [eg: Behumut].


TLDR

No WoW did not burden you the player more, it felt a lot less annoying to deal with.