Feedback/Discussion: Make Open World Content Appealing

[MicahZerrshia]

While I agree with you in regards to the ARR fates being quite interesting, I also continue to enjoy the ShB fate chains.
The treasure hunters in Amh Araeng, the Pixie and the Frogs in Il Mheg, and the bunny-squad in Rak'tika.
They all had engaging personalities, an explained motivation, and a general arc to their stories.
Think it also helped that they fought in the fates, rather than standing back and watching (for better or worse).

Compared to those, I've felt very little about the EW & DT fate NPCs. If there's personality or a story behind them, it hasn't made itself apparent.

I'm not talking about lore or NPCs, I can't actually say I care enough about fates to have ever paid attn to the npcs or lore of them. I am talking about the actual fates themselves. It's the same objectives again and again. Kill all mobs, kill until bar fills, boss fates, collect items > turn in > wait, etc etc. It's always just the same thing again and again, even in the field zones. They need to shake things up a bit and give us new objectives.

Making fates change the world in some way would also be good, like beast tribes or rival factions fighting over control of resources. When one has control the area is much more hostile and when they don't certain vendors are available is a good jumping off point for that. But they would need to put enough worthwhile rewards behind it that it doesn't become obsolete after a couple months, like Odin, Behemoth, Ixion, etc. Large scale, world bosses with actual mechanics would be the good way to incorperate relic items into the world instead of just putting them behind standard fates.

[Raenra]

I'm not talking about lore or NPCs, I can't actually say I care enough about fates to have ever paid attn to the npcs or lore of them. I am talking about the actual fates themselves. It's the same objectives again and again. Kill all mobs, kill until bar fills, boss fates, collect items > turn in > wait, etc etc. It's always just the same thing again and again, even in the field zones. They need to shake things up a bit and give us new objectives.

Making fates change the world in some way would also be good, like beast tribes or rival factions fighting over control of resources. When one has control the area is much more hostile and when they don't certain vendors are available is a good jumping off point for that. But they would need to put enough worthwhile rewards behind it that it doesn't become obsolete after a couple months, like Odin, Behemoth, Ixion, etc. Large scale, world bosses with actual mechanics would be the good way to incorperate relic items into the world instead of just putting them behind standard fates.

And I agree with you.
Like it would have been neat if before Stormy Weather in Hanuhanu-land, fates appeared oriented around harvesting their crops and securing down their stick-houses etc.
They have an intricate weather system, but rarely use it beyond fish spawns.

Was just saying, given this is a story-focused MMO I'd assume a lot of players, a good story-motivation behind what I'm doing really helps keep me engaged.
I will seek out those aforementioned 'story' fates in ShB when I'm in those zones because I care about those NPCs and want them to succeed.
Just like defending the bridge and freeing the captives in Thanalan felt more impactful because it directly tied into the greater narrative of the zone's story.

[Ayuhra]

I just wish the open world were fun to explore. We explore for...aether currents, I guess? Nothing else.

No hidden caves, no treasure chests, no jumping puzzles, no nothing. They're empty spaces we walk through between cutscenes.

You can't even gather in the open world unless you are on a gathering job. You cannot fish unless you are a fisher. You cannot find chests without a map.

I do not want to remove crafting/gathering jobs and maps obviously. But my point is this MMORPG lacks the "Ooooh, I wonder what's over there! What IS that!?" moments.

[Hallarem]

Keypoint is having more points of interests, towns, villages, OPEN BUILDINGS FOR TWELVES SAKE, OPEN UP AAAALL THE BUILDINGS.

[JohnLakeside]

Keypoint is having more points of interests, towns, villages, OPEN BUILDINGS FOR TWELVES SAKE, OPEN UP AAAALL THE BUILDINGS.

Having barely any open buildings completely kills side quests for me. How the hell am I supposed to care about the people in the settlement when I can't even see how they live. When you can’t see how people actually live, settlements stop feeling like communities and start feeling like staged backdrops. The absence of open buildings makes NPCs feel less believable (in no world is an NPC standing idly outside their home as real feeling as an NPC inside their home, even if that NPC is also standing idly inside) and strips away the environmental storytelling (!!!!) . It also really pisses me off when I see people say its not possible to have open buildings. Bruh, its possible! They did it in ARR, they can do it again!!!

[Mawlzy]

Having barely any open buildings completely kills side quests for me. How the hell am I supposed to care about the people in the settlement when I can't even see how they live. When you can’t see how people actually live, settlements stop feeling like communities and start feeling like staged backdrops. The absence of open buildings makes NPCs feel less believable (in no world is an NPC standing idly outside their home as real feeling as an NPC inside their home, even if that NPC is also standing idly inside) and strips away the environmental storytelling (!!!!) . It also really pisses me off when I see people say its not possible to have open buildings. Bruh, its possible! They did it in ARR, they can do it again!!!

Many of the settlements feel more like lots at Universal Studios than places where people live.

[JohnLakeside]

Many of the settlements feel more like lots at Universal Studios than places where people live.

Agreed. This is what the houses in Wright feel like lol.

[mallleable]

Please start caring about over world gameplay.

Please increase the difficulty/complexity of mini boss FATEs to be around a similar level as Dawntrail dungeon bosses (or dungeon bosses in general). It seems like both non-raiders, and experienced raiders agree that the dungeon bosses from Dawntrail dungeons have been fun while still maintaining an easy, and accessible difficulty. So I think their complexity, and difficulty would be appropriate for mini boss FATEs. This is the most important request, the below requests mean nothing if FATEs are not fun to fight.

Please add more FATE chains. I think that every ‘kill lots of enemies’ style FATES should always chain into a mini boss FATE. This would mimic how Notorious Monsters, and Critical Engagements are spawned in exploration zones. Also we just get more FATE per FATE.

Please add a world boss FATE to every zone. Six alliance raid level bosses with rewards would be available to players at the start of an expansion. And please allow us to trade in excess world boss tokens for either bicolor gems or bicolor vouchers. It would also be great if world boss FATEs from previous expansions had chance of having the bonus reward buff applied to them.

Please add more Forlorn Maiden interactions. I made a post outlining a rare ‘Forlorn Mistress’ enemy concept, so please consider it. Another change that would be great is dramatically increasing the spawn chance of Forlorn Maidens/The Forlorn in 1 or 2 zones per expansion. Increasing the spawn rate for Forlorn Maidens in a zone will make that zone great for leveling.

Please add more long term FATE rewards. A long term FATE reward I would like to see in the future is like some kind of universal accessory that increases the amount of bicolor gems you get from FATEs. Another would be a consumable item that can be bought with vouchers that forces Forlorn Maidens to spawn in FATEs you are participating in.

Some miscellaneous wants: a FATE log with achievements, and rewards for completing it, get players out of combat faster when a FATE ends, an auto sync option, don’t remove tank stance when syncing for a FATE, add bicolor gems to FATEs up to at least Heavensward zones, and add challenge log entries that reward bicolor gems for completing FATEs within your level range. I genuinely think it would be worth it to apply these improvements to FATEs in zones from previous expansions as well.

How I would improve FATEs.

[Veritas-Ancora]

I would want the "Final Cap Level Area" to be the one with the most amount of content.

People are spread too thin across all of the zones. There should be one zone that intends to do this.

Exploratory Missions isn't for another two months, but I'd like to see the L100 zone have more content.

[Raim]

I appreciate you guys posting any ideas you have. Just keep the thread moving and make it more known to the team that they need to work on the open world, preferably at all level ranges.