One thing that has not been done yet with FFXIV

[Iscah]

I'm not a big fan of underground zones. They're usually dark, depressing slogs and not very exciting. Now, you can get wild with it and make it look like anything, but in that case, you've just taken some above ground zone and labeled it underground.

I don't think that's the case. You could do some really interesting things with a cave setting – from large high-ceilinged caverns to an inhabited city with warm lights and cosy "rooms". Glowing crystals, ornate rock formations, underground rivers and waterfalls, near-surface caves with sunlight coming through openings

I feel like this post really highlights how forgettable Labirynthos is lol

I think theforgettable thing isn't the zone itself but the fact that it is located underground. There's nothing about it that feels like you're in a cave.

[AnnRam]

Imagine doing another tremendous big city like in Kugane,The Crystarium, Sharlayan without mounts again. Seriously what's wrong with SE, they live selling mounts for almost 30 dollars but they are so limited no wonder why every new major city becomes a ghost town 2 weeks later.

[TheMightyMollusk]

Imagine doing another tremendous big city like in Kugane,The Crystarium, Sharlayan without mounts again. Seriously what's wrong with SE, they live selling mounts for almost 30 dollars but they are so limited no wonder why every new major city becomes a ghost town 2 weeks later.

New cities become ghost towns because everyone's busy AFKing in Limsa and Ul'dah. Where we also can't use mounts.

[J1992]

I think they need to make the new cities more enticing. none of the cities looked enticing. Limsa and gridania still look the most enticing. Furthermore you got some people in Sharlyan and some in Raz which to me seems a bad design. Put your resources in one big city and make it gorgeous or brutal, main hubs need to look extreme and big. This alone, where you dont have 2 hubs each expansion for different purposes (MB + Tomes exchange), ensures that the new hub becomes amuch more crowded city by the raiders. Ofcourse this also demands a higher max count of players in one instance which could be really nice. Another idea to attract the raiders to 1 big city hub could be setting a few dummies near the guards barracks for people to test their rotation. To get the immersion people you can just make the city BIG and extreme, take risks. Fill the city also with much more npc`s who do their daily shores like gossipping and such while in the background you can hear the noise of a busy city depending where you are in the city just like GW2.

Would be fun to have an arena where it is free for all if you enter. Also put pvp vendors there aswell.

[Hurlstone]

A entire zone underground, and a underground city player hub.

I hope that will be a thing with the Duskwight Elezens if they ever get a chance to shine one day.

I would love to see that one day. It reminds me of ESO's Greymoor Chapter. I was not keen on that expansion much, but I adored how they portrayed the underground zone of Blackreach. There is alot that FFXIV can do with an underground zone. It does not just have to be rocks, rocks and oh look, more rocks! There is still wildlife and fauna to gaze at, and cultures that could be born from beneath our feet. I would love to see a tottaly subterranean Beast Tribe we could befriend!

[SturmChurro]

New cities become ghost towns because everyone's busy AFKing in Limsa and Ul'dah. Where we also can't use mounts.

I don't really know how lively the expansion cities have been, but there being so many of them, and the early cities being accessible is also probably a factor. Not sure how RPers justify it.

An underground zone can be fun, it could be interesting. Like what was mentioned previously: the underdark. It has been done, or is being done, recently with Baldur's Gate 3, and it showcases colorful environs, and there is the possibility of interesting creatures as well. There's also Skyrim with Blackreach as an example, etc..

[Shuuli]

I would rather have something that is
a.) Egyptian themed
b.) Inca themed

I don't know if I would like underground. The Dravanian zone has the underground world kind of setting and its very dark and I just want to always get out.

We could also have more underwater things. I think that is heavily underutilized.

[Shougun]

I would rather have something that is
a.) Egyptian themed
b.) Inca themed

I don't know if I would like underground. The Dravanian zone has the underground world kind of setting and its very dark and I just want to always get out.

We could also have more underwater things. I think that is heavily underutilized.

We have a desert already but one that I feel would be really cool if they can get the SFX right is the sandsea:




That with some cool Egyptian theme'd space might be pretty fun.

Bit of a tangent but I could imagine a semi-psychedelic desert space where the sand falls upwards, rivers of seasand, oasis's, etc... Giant trees like in Studio Ghibli Valley of the Wind and Princess Mononoke and the hidden lake of Dark Souls, but in a desert instead lol.

[DamianFatale]

I'm not a big fan of underground zones. They're usually dark, depressing slogs and not very exciting. Now, you can get wild with it and make it look like anything, but in that case, you've just taken some above ground zone and labeled it underground.

Sounds like you haven't seen Uraya in Xenoblade Chronicles 2/3. Uraya is one of the best examples of an underground city that still maintains visibility. Another good example are the underground ruins of cities in Elden Ring. They were really spectacular. I wish we could see them populated, and not in ruins.

Here's a video that shows off what makes Uraya so spectacular. I really hope Final Fantasy XIV takes a look at Xenoblade for its future environments. There is so much to learn and get ideas from. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gdnvaxd2l_Q

[Hanayumi]

Welp from the known remaining places, New World is supposedly South American ish and a hefty chunk of Meracydia is a Madmax wasteland so other settings would possibly have to be on other planets or other shards.