Next Exploration Area

[Fatch38]

expecting nothing, gonna be another grind because "hey it's fun to make player level up again for nothing" and having most of the map locked being that leveling + a boring quest instead of letting player you know ... EXPLORE

[Daralii]

expecting nothing, gonna be another grind because "hey it's fun to make player level up again for nothing" and having most of the map locked being that leveling + a boring quest instead of letting player you know ... EXPLORE

Diadem, Eureka, Bozja, and variant dungeons are all they've been able to come up with in response to people saying they wanted more exploration. There's never been any hope.

[CuteBucket]

Man, y'all in here really hated Bozja that much? I was having a blast in there and really missed having an equivalent in Endwalker. Sure, I hope there's some new surprises, but I'm just glad there's going to be an exploratory zone AT ALL after the last two years lacking one + how bored I am with Dawntrail and wanting midcore content.

If you hated Bozja and Eureka, this content probably isn't for you. If you liked either of those, though, I'm hopeful that it will be iterating on the things I enjoyed about those zones.

[Valence]

If you hated Bozja and Eureka, this content probably isn't for you. If you liked either of those, though, I'm hopeful that it will be iterating on the things I enjoyed about those zones.

What did you enjoy?

[CuteBucket]

What did you enjoy?

For Bozja (as that's the one I played when it was current):

- I loved just how busy and alive the zones felt compared to the dead overworld zones of the MSQ. There was always chatter going on in Shout Chat--people making groups for different content all the time and just goofing off in chat together.
- I liked the theming. People complain about Bozja being ugly, and yes, I think it could have been spruced up and given some better lighting and a bigger variety of weather conditions, I enjoyed the the gritty Fantasy WWI style aesthetic they were going with.
- I liked the Critical Engagements. They popped very frequently, FAR more frequently than Notorious Monsters in Eureka did, so it didn't feel nearly as grindy and taxing to get one to spawn. Each fight had at least one core gimmick that separated it from the others. This was good midcore content that was challenging mechanically without being too punishing. So while it was easy to get killed in fights, it rarely doomed your party or the wider group as a whole to do so, it was just an individual mistake (contrast with something like Savage, where people are expected to learn together and one misstep from a single player or two can cause a wipe).
- The solo fights were also a nice touch--one had to get good enough at the CEs to take no damage the whole time and then would get the ability to challenge the solo fight. These were tough (though they can be cheesed easier now), and it was fun to gather around the arena and cheer the spotlighted player on.
- Castrum Lacus Litore and Dalriada are some of my all time favorite content in the game. The mechanics were new and unique to me (I especially liked coordinating teams to split up and try and rescue all of the prisoners before the Garleans executed them), but I can't think of a single fight I dislike in those raids. Both the chaos and the coordination of that many people in a single instance raid was so much fun and I have many fond memories of running it when it was current with my friends. Delubrum Reginae was also a lot of fun when it was current, though having to farm it constantly for each relic weapon made it get old faster than the others. I appreciate it for what it was, though.
- I liked playing around with the Lost Actions and the potions and all that stuff. You could play around with builds in a space where it wasn't like you were permanently altering anything, it was just goofing around with some silly abilities (the one that made you go zooming around at like 3x speed was my fave) that you could still stack into crazy powerful stuff if you wanted to (great for speed-running farms of DR)
- It's a great place to make some gil if you don't like crafting, and I don't like crafting.
- The story itself was kind of mid, but I enjoyed a lot of the characters and world building around it. I liked learning about one of the Garlean Legions that we hadn't seen in Eorzea, learning about the Hrothgar and their homeland, getting to go into Cid's psyche and beat up Evil Dream Varis, some of the downright zany enemies and their fashion choices and collecting notes about them, the beastmaster Highlander and the Legionary Elezen man being hella gay for each other... The actual plot may have been meh, but at least the characters and content around them were fun.

[FuturePastNow]

I hated Bozja when I was leveling it up, mostly trying to do it solo, but I've come around and fallen in love with the content since finding a group of people to do it with. The extremely boring story didn't help (and yet, I'd still like to see a continuation/follow-up on that story's loose threads). I'd hardly describe it as "exploration," though. Eureka was a bit more exploratory, made the map itself more of a character, but that still has its limits when the map is finite and non-random. Eventually you just see it all and that will always be the case.

[Eraden]

When Mao thinks of explorations, Mao thinks of zones in GW2. HUGE areas full of vistas, points of interests, puzzles, hidden treasures, special resource nodes, and repeating events whats can be influenced by players. NONE of which is locked behind MSQs and ALL of which gives xps as well as joy of discoverys. Mao hopings this will come to FFXIV.

[Hanayumi]

Eureka and Bozja were implemented with the primary ideal of an old school mob/boss grind, which a lot of folks do like. Not everyone will enjoy it, and id stand not everyone should enjoy every bit of content, as it dulls many aspects for others when they do try to "please all." Now would say relic being tied to Bozja was a horrible idea, shouldve been a seperate thing but with several options to complete steps instead, they were close to the idea with options until they made Bozjan raid a requirement...

[Tint]

Eureka and Bozja were implemented with the primary ideal of an old school mob/boss grind, which a lot of folks do like. Not everyone will enjoy it, and id stand not everyone should enjoy every bit of content, as it dulls many aspects for others when they do try to "please all." Now would say relic being tied to Bozja was a horrible idea, shouldve been a seperate thing but with several options to complete steps instead, they were close to the idea with options until they made Bozjan raid a requirement...

The relic weapon is exactly the thing they ruined by trying to please them all.

The relic is the weapon for people who like grinding.

People who don't like grinding can choose from:

The ex trial weapon, the savage raid weapon (includes upgraded tomestone weapon for the even numbered patch) and ultimate raid weapon when they enjoy difficult battle content. There are even stages of difficulty.

If you don't enjoy doing difficult content or grinding you can choose from the crafted weapon and tomestone weapon, both are upgradeable in odd numbered patches.

By trying to make the relic a weapon for everyone they removed the content for people who like grinding and gave another option to the people who don't like grinding or difficult content, despite they already have two weapons available.

But at the end of the day it's mood anyway because the tomestone gear is simply too strong and makes every other content and options dead on arrival.

[Valence]

The relic weapon is exactly the thing they ruined by trying to please them all.

The relic is the weapon for people who like grinding.

People who don't like grinding can choose from:

The ex trial weapon, the savage raid weapon (includes upgraded tomestone weapon for the even numbered patch) and ultimate raid weapon when they enjoy difficult battle content. There are even stages of difficulty.

If you don't enjoy doing difficult content or grinding you can choose from the crafted weapon and tomestone weapon, both are upgradeable in odd numbered patches.

By trying to make the relic a weapon for everyone they removed the content for people who like grinding and gave another option to the people who don't like grinding or difficult content, despite they already have two weapons available.

But at the end of the day it's mood anyway because the tomestone gear is simply too strong and makes every other content and options dead on arrival.

I am curious now, what is detracting from your experience in grinding the relic weapon if people can get it through other means than killing mobs and CEs in bozja for example? As long as there is a modicum of balance between all options?