Zones ... hmmm

[Dannythm]

Zones are better, there's a reason pretty much all seamless world MMOs are generally bland or designed the same.

The continent of Northrend in WoW is one of the best things, scenery wise, that I've ever experienced.

[InuraBera]

The continent of Northrend in WoW is one of the best things, scenery wise, that I've ever experienced.

I did much enjoy Northrend. However, one thing that always strikes me in World of Warcraft is how 'sudden' the change is - from dark spooky forests of Duskwood, to suddenly the jungles of Stranglethorn. If they had 'zones' that you actually loaded into, it makes you feel like you have travelled more distance and sorts many of those oddities.

They have got much better at it lately, but often the very obvious boundaries can be a bit of an immersion breaker - more so than loading up a new are would be!

Of course, both work well, just depends how they are done. Being an old time gamer, I've always been a fan of zoning - it gives the feeling of entering into an exciting, seperate area, rather than just happening to wander into it all of a sudden.

[Seirra_Lanzce]

Zones are better, there's a reason pretty much all seamless world MMOs are generally bland or designed the same.

Sorry to say this but only FFXIV's seamless world MMO is bland.

[Punainen]

Visible zones with loading screens are better than invisible zones with surprise mobs killing you before you can even see them.

And a zillion times better than dealing with copy-paste landscapes just to allow "seamless" zones.

[Preypacer]

Visible zones with loading screens are better than invisible zones with surprise mobs killing you before you can even see them.

And a zillion times better than dealing with copy-paste landscapes just to allow "seamless" zones.

lol... Yep. Nothing quite like running somewhere on Chocobo wondering "where's all the mooo-ohhh my god... level 90 mob.. shit shit shit..." -dead-

[Arcell]

In 1.0 you still traveled between zones, it was just far worse. Instead of dealing with a 2 second loading screen, you had long tunnels everywhere. They were awful and made areas way bigger than they needed to be for absolutely no reason.

[Linkurrra]

In 1.0 you still traveled between zones, it was just far worse. Instead of dealing with a 2 second loading screen, you had long tunnels everywhere. They were awful and made areas way bigger than they needed to be for absolutely no reason.

Oh the tunnels were there for a reason alright. They were there to hide the inherent flaw in seamless zones. It connected the world without loading screens, however they deliberately kept mob spawns from these locations so you didn't run into issues of mobs disappearing on combat, not being able to see party members etc.

It still happened if ppl drug the mobs away from their home location far enough, or had ppl in your party on follow and found them just stop following because of "softzones"

Which reminds me, how about making a /follow that will retain it's target after you cross through a zone area? is that so hard?
Have /follow recognize when you zone and remember "X" was your target and after you load look for "X" target and /follow it again!

[Phe]

I demand a chocobo on my loading screen.

That is all.

[Ventos]

I demand a chocobo on my loading screen.

That is all.

I actually like that the name of the zone appears in the loading screen. A lot.

[Galliano]

I demand a chocobo on my loading screen.

That is all.

I demand a chocobo and a moogle dancing to Waltz de Chocobo!