Make Zones dangerous!

[PyurBlue]

The hard part would be coming up with a good reason for players to want to go there. And since we don't have any interesting/non-combat spells whatsoever in this game like sneak/invis/reraise, there wouldn't be many options for people who don't have a group to team up with to explore the area.

An alternative source for tomes/drops could be enough. Gems already attract a number of people to farm FATEs. The Shared FATE option could remain as the low difficulty, repetitive path while a dangerous zone could provide the same rewards but with more engaging gameplay.

[Sifpatata]

I remember running around in Final Fantasy 11 and even in Final Fantasy 14 1.0.
You actually had to watch where you run because mobs pulled a threat.
It made the game fun and thrilling.....

Now you can put auto run and dont care what you aggro... YoshyP made this game way to easy and its sad. And he doesnt care.

Not for nothing but the blame is not entirely yoshi's, the community is partly to blame too, they cried when they released eureka, and when bozja came out they also cried, they just listened to the critics, anyway. The community is also partly to blame for many negative aspects of this MMO.

[SamSmoot]

Was it the Western Plaguelands? Because that happens a lot to new Undead players. We used to call 'em the Welcome Bears.

Yea, that was it. They even followed me back out until I ran far enough.

[MicahZerrshia]

it is vastly superior to XIV....having Yoshi at the helm will spell disaster after XVI and how XIV fell from its' peak. I wish him the best, nothing personal, but I just don't think he is good at this

I went back to XI during the return and discount campaign they just had, and I haven't really played it too much since around 2011, but XIV has been so incredibly stale lately I did it out of boredom, and holy hannah, even dangerous world aside, FFXI gets so much right that FFXIV just cannot seem to even grasp...

Jobs are so much better and there is a flavor for you no matter what your taste.
The world is established and they don't just shoehorn things in that don't make sense just to forget about them next expac, like tech that is centuries if not millenia more advanced but strangely have no reprocussions on the setting.
Combat at higher levels is so much better than the dance dance revolution that XIV has become, even if it is slower.
Stats, buffs and debuffs are meaningful and plentiful with actual support roles that can do more than enhance attack by 3% for 30 seconds.*
Gear and drops are so much more important than just placeholders until the next patch and can last literal years.
They actually know how pet jobs should work. Bst, pup, smn...they are all just fantastic. (esp pup, but I am bias since its a fav of mine)
There is such a variety of content. And I don't mean raid A vs raid B, (which are all the same with different paint) and FATEs, but actual highly varied types of content.
The story telling and lore is exceptional for an mmo without being buried under a sea of boring manga tropes, retcons and just plain ol' bad writing and self inserts.
Every expac is a self contained story, giving us a much wider view of the world from many different perspectives that we actually get to experience and not just be told about. XIV's egregious breaking the cardinal rule of "show don't tell" is tiresome and boring. Let me experience the world!
They really limited the amount of cutesy, UwU, chibi, grossness that spread across XIV like some saccharine plague.
The devs are so much more communicative with us and actually listen and take suggestions into consideration and introduce them in a thoughtful way. Like they still actually care about this world and the ppl in it.
I could go on, but you get it.

Imo it wouldn't take that many tweaks for XI to rule over XIV again. Ppl want to hate on it because its old, slow and less pretty, but it really just proves that new, fast and graphics are not the be all end all. How SE got FFXI so right in so many ways and XIV cannot do more than FATEs, hallways, square/circle arenas, bargin bin manga writing and progressively worse/out of place glams is the real mystery here.