I like the current system of baddies having a small area they will chase players in, to me this makes the most sense. In nature animals will only chase off predators that come near them and avoid fighting if possible. Even when hunting they will only chase something so far and give up if they can't catch it. Survival instinct keeps them from running off into outside territory, even for predators. I do agree though that if they ran a little faster it might make things feel more real.

If they could hit you while chasing you but only chase you so far then I think that would be best. It would stop lower level people from rushing through groups of high level baddies while still allowing higher level characters to get through.

FFXI's method was horrible and I'm glad it's not the same in FFXIV. It was nothing but tedious to deal with monsters chasing you to a zone anytime you were seen, given you had enough HP to run that far. These games involve a great deal of running around for quests, often times just to see a cutscene then return. This already lengthy process would be made dramatically longer if players were further hindered to getting around the wilderness. As has been mentioned before it is dangerous to leave the main path in many places as that is where all the nasty creatures are. This is how it should be; paths are made because they are sturdy, safe routes to get around the world. Stray from the path however and your life is in your own hands. Running to that tree for the last WHM quest showed me just how perilous the world can be... if I wasn't Lv 50 I wouldn't have made it.

I wonder if the monsters behaviour will change much in v2.0 with the implementation of smaller zones.