Suggestion [remove Aether Currents as a catch up mechanic]

[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.

[Iscah]

This psychological harms the player every time

Could you be any more overdramatic about this?

Sure it's a bit disappointing and frustrating to be back down to the slow speed, but calling it "psychological harm" both overplays the severity of it and underplays the severity of actual psychological harm.

Slow mounts are tedium, not suffering.

[Kes13a]

- 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.

um... pathfinding in WoW was "not...intrusive"?

Pathfinder 1... (first of two) BfA
10 reps to revered.
100 world quests
Fully explore 6 zones
complete 100 world quests
complete a war campaign
fully complete zone questline

PathFinder part 2 (BfA)
3 more revered reps
fully explore 2 zones

they expected an average player to complete in 4 to 5 weeks.
(reality was since you were also trying to increase your overall power, usually took longer)

I am not really sure how you think that was easier and "better" than FFxiv.

I wonder if you even played WoW based on what you wrote. as for "roleplaying in Goldshire" thats a laugh and a half. not everyone wants to make their gold erping in an online game.

as for lasting an "entire expansion" thats false. Pathfinder 2 was NEVER released until about 1/2 of the way through the expansion. half the time you never completed the zone questline until you were max level. in BfA pathfinder 1 was available on release, it was added in patch 8.01 (july 2018) and pathfinder 2 in patch 8.2 (june 2019).

in FFxiv, you can fly in the zone with the AC all unlocked. technically you can unlock them all day 1 if you no lifed it.

not sure what WoW you played, but certainly wasnt the same one I spent over a decade part of.

[TaleraRistain]

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].

We used to have terrestrial and flying mounts. You can still see the divide in the descriptions. But the devs listened to feedback about how this was silly and limiting when we had to swap from our favorite mounts to fly so they made everything able to fly.

[Almagnus1]

We used to have terrestrial and flying mounts. You can still see the divide in the descriptions. But the devs listened to feedback about how this was silly and limiting when we had to swap from our favorite mounts to fly so they made everything able to fly.

And the kicker with flight speed: It's always at max, and never drops like land speed does. You need to unlock that to being faster.

[SeverianLyonesse]

OH they are? Nevermind then. We coo.