Linear, linear, linear

[R041]

...

Size of the map definitely matters, and flying has significantly affected the amount of passerbys overall. Then obviously the next major problem is we keep making new zones every expansion while continuing to stretch the MSQ itself, so only a fraction of players are ever even doing the same content together. The only time this game's open world feels even remotely lively is weekend of a BLU update, when it should be every day. I don't know if I'd even count hunt farms - Because that's such a slog, and requires no brain power or discussion either.

Leves are gone, so even there's less reason..

This is how I remember ARR, not 100% dungeon spam: https://youtu.be/G6GtJJzkoWI

It's funny because I bet they thought it'd force players to interact with each other by only doing dungeons, but they decided to dumb those down too so most players never need to talk to finish them.

Everything requiring any form of human interaction as a game (except raid) has been entirely stripped from XIV's daily life. It feels soulless most of the time. :/

XIV is the silent single-player MMO now.

[Shurrikhan]

XIV is the silent single-player MMO now.

I agree. I just don't think the symptom you're fixating on is remotely the cause, nor even a really a contributing context.

This is how I remember ARR, not 100% dungeon spam: https://youtu.be/G6GtJJzkoWI

So... you fondly remember soloing leves... rather than even... any of the group content (that was far, far more popularly done even back in ARR)? Sure, you could see a fellow player doing their leves in the distance, but you were effectively shard-ed away from one another, prevented from affecting anything they were fighting.

And, again... Heavensward didn't remove Battle Leves anyways. That didn't happen until later.

:: For my part, I remember ARR via FATEs and shout-formed dungeon groups (often missing either a healer or tank or even just running with 4 SMNs, since we could kite all but ranged enemies and Titan could boss TBs and especially AoEs just fine back then).

Everything requiring any form of human interaction as a game (except raid) has been entirely stripped from XIV's daily life. It feels soulless most of the time. :/

It still has exactly the same amount it had before, minus only leves and the hunting log after level 60 (replaced by more frequent and lucrative Clan Hunts). And that's if excluding Exploratory Missions from remotely 'open-world' content.

These problems aren't new. They've been the norm since ARR itself. The last time people actually cared about random treasure, the mob sites/camps themselves, or varied/personally set gathering loops... was in 1.x.

If you want those problems dealt with, then it'd be better to look at the disease, not just some reflection of a particular symptom.