Open World elements in FF14

[LianaThorne]

Finding B, A or S marks is not "fly to a specific destination" because you don't know which spawn point it's at. Treasure maps can involve looking in nooks and crannies because you are figuring out where the exact X is from a vague, zoomed in picture of the map and it can involve several dig attempts. Gathering isn't done at any specific location because they are dotted all around the place so you get to explore and gather where you please.

- Hunt marks: Locations are very much publicly available and in hunt trains you're literally provided coordinates of where to go. Hell, when EW started people were shouting mark locations to help out others and make finding them easier.

- Treasure Maps: Same thing as above, locations are easily found and you really don't have to put a ton of brain power into it.

- Gathering: The gathering log exists and shows you exactly where to go depending on what you're looking for. There's no exploring needed.

I get your point of what you're trying to say but I wouldn't classify things that the game obviously points you to as exploration.

[Irenia]

Hunts are interesting in that they are one of two truly "open world" pieces of content in the over world, but the community put a structure over it, creating a system of reporting and hunt trains.

Same thing with Eureka, actually. I imagine the intended play pattern was for players to group up and find a place to level, dealing with whatever shenanigans happen as they come, whether they are weather changes or NM spawning. The community put a structure on this too, creating NM trains.

Note I have a specific definition for "open"; I contrast it against "instanced" - the former invites interaction with otherwise uninvoled players, the latter denies it. Gil is open, tomestones are instanced. FATEs are open, treasure maps are instanced. Quests are instanced, and your recommendations are all variations of questing, making it less accessible by removing signposts in order to facilitate wandering the map.

I believe the team wants their lore to be accessible and easily found if you want it; it's why 8 man raids have normal modes now, after all. Plus the fact that we live in a world where the inter is ubiquitous is also important. Regardless of their value, these may be the reasons why they wouldn't want to do what you ask. After all, back in ARR, sightseeing logs were unmarked on the map, and they made the conscious decision to move away from that design.

[Jeeqbit]

Yes it is. You fly to specific spawn points to check whether they are there. That's literally flying to specific destinations.

The same could be said of the aether currents which you praised. Just like you didn't look at a map of where the aether currents are, you can not look at a map of spawn points.

You literally look up a map and use your minimap to look at the nodes. And if you don't know where it is, you use Triangulate and just fly in that direction.

I've not found any of these things necessary because the nodes show up in plain sight as I move around the rocks and hills.

Furthermore, I hope you realize that "exploration" implies that those details in the world have stories and lore attached to them. Otherwise it's not called exploration, it's pure padding.

So your definition of exploration is that there must be story and lore attached to it beyond that implied from just looking at ruins and ancient rubble. Well none of the content I listed does that or not in the way that you want it.

- Hunt marks: Locations are very much publicly available and in hunt trains you're literally provided coordinates of where to go. Hell, when EW started people were shouting mark locations to help out others and make finding them easier.

- Treasure Maps: Same thing as above, locations are easily found and you really don't have to put a ton of brain power into it.

- Gathering: The gathering log exists and shows you exactly where to go depending on what you're looking for. There's no exploring needed.

The same could be said of the sightseeing log and aether currents. Looking up the locations is spoiling yourself and no matter what "exploration" content gets added, you will always be able to spoil yourself by looking up the coordinates on the internet.