Thread: 8.0 and World

Originally Posted by Cleretic

I'd enjoy an expansion about going back to look deeper at a part of the world we've already been, and if we're ever doing that, 'the underside of the Shroud' is maybe the very first place we should go. But I think it'd require a fundamentally entirely different approach to how FFXIV currently does expansions; I don't think that quite makes sense in the current form of expansions we have.

Like, to just start with a dumb thought exercise that my Discord server stumbled into at one point: I think that a well-rounded FFXIV expansion should have all five Magic the Gathering land types in their zone lineup. There should be a Plains, Mountain, Island, Swamp and Forest somewhere in there as a primary defining element of a zone, just to ensure that you have a lot of aesthetic diversity. My concern with something like a 'Gelmorra Expansion' is that you're not gonna be able to hit all of those, and the expansion suffers because of it.

Off-topic (more or less) - but... Discord server? Presumably for Lore discussion? If so, am interested!

Originally Posted by ShadowyZero

-Third. this relates to the world zones and maps i think its high time the get creative a world does not feel "adventurous" or even "open" if all doors are just locked

There are too many flaws that need resolving to get this to work well. Keep in mind that this already happened in HW, and worked in every single expansion beyond that. Its an easy way to force effectively more zones into the 6 you get. And provide areas with decently leveled enemies alongside it.
2nd: it doesnt matter if a zone has lvl 91 enemies on 1 side, and 100 on the other. If there is an aetheryte at the 100 spot. People will just dodge mobs in order to get to that aetheryte. Fields op show how easily this is managed. It barely adds exploration feelings. The only reason the older areas felt like they did was because the lvls were more impactful stat wise, and because you lacked experience and gear to get further. These days with tomestone gear of lvl 90 you can already get to lvl 96 easily, which means all the mobs below that are easy.

What i do hope they wont be doing is to force people into a 2 zone split in the beginning. I rather see them quickly visiting 1 area, then the next one. They can both still be half blocked off, but instead of just teleporting, it now at least demanded players to cross it themselve.

Oh, and areas like living memory and ultima thule should be skipped entirely, or given its own 7th area. Such forced splitting of areas just isnt fun since you know it ends up unlocking a small piece every single time. It was ok in azys lla being the first time. But any later time just failed massively. If you want such area, at least place it in a section similar to tempest where most of the zone is still a normal exploration zone. These always feel like a wasted zone to me with anoying gatekeeping. Either its the element of surprise when the zone gets released (ahm araeng, kholusia, peaks, laby all did a good job here), or the zone itself should be an entire surpise.
I dont want the predictable: here is a corner, here is the next one, im lvl 99, so soon those other 2 will be opened up. Why do i need to follow the msq if i can already see the zone at a distance anyway? Its boring, let me explore, and do guesses on how the msq is going to use the zone. It feels too restrictive and pushes too much on: follow the msq to unlock everything quickly. It should feel more natural, and not feel like 'im missing out on something' because you can see fates spawn on the map.

the 7th area implementation could even be in field op style, which then potentialy could mean several zones are yet to be unlocked, and there not being any map visible of the area until you reached it. That gives a good element of surprise then.

Originally Posted by UkcsAlias

There are too many flaws that need resolving to get this to work well. Keep in mind that this already happened in HW, and worked in every single expansion beyond that..

uh sorry but i'm more referring too making zones feel more alive in general with more locals and sights to see etc. not like how the areas themselves are meant to function etc we need more things to explore and visit. i really like rak'tika for this reason cause it gave us ancient ruins to visit and underwater areas to find and see,
and i really enjoyed ARR's open world as you could go into shops, go into buildings and see people interacting in them an the areas had alot of variation this is what i want them to do for future expansions to really flesh out the world and make us want to explore it and find places or monuments or areas of interest we aren't called "Adventurer" for nothing after all and the open areas should reflect that they should be an adventure all on their own not just a "farm" simulator that we return to farm gathering materials or spam fates, hunts, etc. another good zone is Lakeland its immersive an feels surreal i want them to do more of that kinda stuff

Originally Posted by Cleretic

Like, to just start with a dumb thought exercise that my Discord server stumbled into at one point: I think that a well-rounded FFXIV expansion should have all five Magic the Gathering land types in their zone lineup. There should be a Plains, Mountain, Island, Swamp and Forest somewhere in there as a primary defining element of a zone, just to ensure that you have a lot of aesthetic diversity. My concern with something like a 'Gelmorra Expansion' is that you're not gonna be able to hit all of those, and the expansion suffers because of it.

I think there could be a diversity of environments underground besides just stone caverns. Subterranean forests like in Journey to the Center of the Earth, for example.

But Iscah's also right, I was mainly imagining all the possibilities to explore in general for Gelmorra, and beneath the Shroud. There'd be room for other locales to fill those niches in an expansion like that.

On the topic of zones, while I adore the more natural zones, especially ones that remind me of places I've been to IRL, I have fallen in love with Heritage Found, and just how fantastical it is. It's cowboys, castles, and robots haphazardly smashed together. No one belongs anymore, and yet they do. It reminds me of some of the locations in The Dark Tower series or The Real World from The Matrix. I hope they take me somewhere I've never been to in 8.0 like they have with Heritage Found, I hope we get more fantastical zones.

Originally Posted by mallleable

On the topic of zones, while I adore the more natural zones, especially ones that remind me of places I've been to IRL, I have fallen in love with Heritage Found, and just how fantastical it is. It's cowboys, castles, and robots haphazardly smashed together. No one belongs anymore, and yet they do. It reminds me of some of the locations in The Dark Tower series or The Real World from The Matrix. I hope they take me somewhere I've never been to in 8.0 like they have with Heritage Found, I hope we get more fantastical zones.

Heritage Found is such an interesting zone, in that I'm genuinely not even sure how you would approach making 'more zones like Heritage Found'. It's such an extremely specific concept for a zone, that I don't even think it's possible to repeat; you just have to go that high-concept again and hope you hit the mark a second time in a different way.

Originally Posted by Carin-Eri

Off-topic (more or less) - but... Discord server? Presumably for Lore discussion? If so, am interested!

It's around my Youtube channel and videos! The link's not hard to find, but you can probably understand, I'm not about to link it here!

Originally Posted by Cilia

2. The Scions already took a major backseat in 7.0 to Wuk Lamat. Complaints about the latter aside, I'm not sure how popular pulling them out of the spotlight has been. Also we need NPCs to run Trusts, and they're already there...

From what I can generally vibe about people's responses to Dawntrail (and I'm generally pretty good at vibing out community responses to media), Dawntrail kind of hit an ugly midpoint that nobody was entirely happy with, where all the Scions were there but nobody was really doing anything. So nobody was really super happy with it; the people who wanted a Scion-free story still had them hanging around making their presence known, but anyone who wanted the Scions to actually have a Scion Story were annoyed that they didn't really contribute.

I'm squarely in the former camp but also see the latter, and like I said on the first page, I think it gets solved in the future by only bringing in Scions that actually have something to actively do.

Originally Posted by Cilia

2. The Scions already took a major backseat in 7.0 to Wuk Lamat. Complaints about the latter aside, I'm not sure how popular pulling them out of the spotlight has been. Also we need NPCs to run Trusts, and they're already there...

3. The whole point of sending us to the other side of the world seems to have been an effort for a fresh start. As such, I do not think we're going to go back and explore "old world" areas except as side content (Stellar Exploration, Deep Dungeons, Custom Deliveries, etc.). The MSQ writers clearly want to break away from preexisting lore and do their own thing; I can't fault them for that, though the results so far have been less than impressive.

the whole point of DT was supposed to be to have a vacation away from eorzea and the disbanded scions but unfortunately they still kept them in anyway an yes i think the trust component might be a factor to it but also the JP an CN communities often have this problem with idol worship.. an it shows with how they keep shoving y'shtola in ads an having the twins advocate for clothing lines etc.
but i think the scions need to go do their own things for at the very least one whole expansion like sure fine use them in sidecontent if they MUST but keep them there do not let them impact the story as whole and let our character for once have the spotlight back on them. this whole excuse of "they need npcs for main scenario" doesnt fly when in the same token the duty support they added adds in random people we've never even met or interacted with before but are allies none the less an i think a majority are okay with that having factions offer their aid to us via proxy representation or hell they could just combine our grand company squad to the duty support system and people would be content with that as well.
it just needs to make logical sense as to why they are there an not be shoe horned in at a whim. (looking at you Estenien )