Possible story-based areas for end-game

[MicahZerrshia]

Yep dangle those achievements in front of us and here we come lol

Other than that unless your helping a friend or linkmate who does things twice without reward?

Thats one of the reasons my ls had a "help a noob" policy, we always had at least 1 person we were helping through content and what not. Idk how many times ive climbed nyzul 1-100 just to get someone their key but I must say I enjoyed it.

[Wolfie]

Also Dynamis is still technically an instance, it's just that only one was available at a time. You had all the characteristics of an instance: other groups couldn't come in and join you or steal your stuff, the mobs were generated fresh each time, it was a totally separate zone, it was on a timer, etc.

[Exn]

Also Dynamis is still technically an instance, it's just that only one was available at a time. You had all the characteristics of an instance: other groups couldn't come in and join you or steal your stuff, the mobs were generated fresh each time, it was a totally separate zone, it was on a timer, etc.

Actually I see Dynamis as another zone. And other groups could (and sometimes would!) come in anytime after entry if they got their hands on your hourglass. This actually happened to one of my dyna LS's twice in row when we (and every other major dyna shell) were spamming Dyna-Xarc. Things got kinda nasty when LSs started disregarding the Dynamis scheduler.

Multiple instances, whereby I imagine the term 'instance' is coming from, were never used for Dynamis, Einherjar, Salvage (I believe), etc in XI. A single zone (that was actually searchable from outside and inside the zone showing which group was using the zone) was used for each location/wing/tier or whatever, that would only refresh once it was empty. In some of them (ie Einherjar) you could actually still target (not-actionable) and see party members in the event, while standing outside. Unlike Nyzul, where there were multiple instances running at the same time, and seaching it would just list every who's running the instance at that time, with no way to separate who's in what instance with who. Anyway, I guess it's an arguement in semantics which isn't important, and I think we agree that we'd both like to see some more non-instanced content.

[Artiss2k]

Yeah Sky didn't come until Rise of the Zilart expansion and Sea came with Chains of Promathia, so I hope we get something like this with future expansions of ARR. It felt awesome getting access to these kinds of areas. I remember looking on search and seeing folks in these zones and feeling like this is something i've got to get access to, they are so cool being up there in these weird zones that I can't even pronounce lol, and I worked toward it until i got in.

[JillyBean]

So I've been playing a lot of FFXI while waiting for ARR beta to start and I had a sudden thought, "How amazing would it be to see an area like sky or sea with ARR's graphics engine?" Now, I was a die-hard FFXI fan for about 4 years, and even though abyssea and GoV parties really ruined the game for me I still find Sea to be one of the most incredible areas in any video game, even with XI's 10 year old graphics.

What I would love to see are areas similar to sky and sea, unlocked after progressing so far into the story missions, and have them be dedicated to end-game. FFXI pulled this off really well because you only had to do the missions and unlock the areas if you were interested in end-game. And I don't know about any of you but I like working for my end-game content, not just slapping a party together, going to the dungeon/primal fight, finishing or wiping, and then disbanding like is seen in so many modern MMOs. You miss out on that sense of community that playing in an MMO should give you. Besides not only does it add end-game content but it also adds to the feel of the storyline, especially in 11, being able to actually go to the places that are mentioned throughout the story was pretty badass.

The sad part about it though is I kinda don't think ARR will have stuff like this, mainly due the fact that they're focusing more on instanced end-game, and I think that's a big mistake. It's way too linear with instanced content, for example, you have the choice to run dungeons A, B, or C, you go finish the dungeon, and that's that. It's the same everytime you run it. With end-game zones though, like sky for example, it's more like, ok we can go farm these NMs and finish a genbu or byakko pop, or try and get both items for a seiryu/suzaku pop. Sea was the same way, but it even had an additional end-game zone inside of it. Both areas offer much more variety in how you want to progress over the course of several days, and you don't get burned out nearly as fast as you would grinding the same dungeons I think. These are just my opinions on the matter, but what do you guys think? Would you like to see unlocked areas as part of the storyline? And Yoshi-P, I trust you with ARR and think you're doing a great job, but if you see this post please, PLEASE, consider what I've said

I think this is my favorite OP ever. I played and loved XI for 6.5 years. I have to hope and believe that we will get the same expansion treatment for XIV, and that we will get plenty of open world content, in addition to the abundant instanced content. I also love XIV and many of its differences/improvements over XI. Anything to add to the immersion and the community imo is the best ingredients for a game to be loved, played and subscribed to for years. If you don't feel like you are there, and if you don't feel like you are with friends, no matter how great the gameplay and/or story is you may have fun for a while but no one will stick around for long.

This is off topic from expansions and new areas, but there is one thing that I remember Yoshi saying in the final night Live letter that housing would be limited at first to encourage community building. Sheer brilliance in recognizing what really will continue to drive people to play for a very long time. A strong community is the number one aspect to build on. I bet everyone who played XI (perhaps any mmo?) would say the reason they kept playing so long is simply their friends.

[Zenaku]

yoshi-p said they be a sea and sky area for FFXIV i remember the old or maybe new dev team talking about a Castle in the sky. Yoshi-p said that people really enjoy sea area more but he enjoy sky so he may end up doing sky first then sea later so there you go.

[ZakarnRosewood]

Ishguard, al'mihgo, and the garleans? Have you not followed any lore? I'm sorely behind on knowing whats going on and even i know there are areas they have yet to introduce...

[Duelle]

@OP: You forget that in FFXI (specially in the case of CoP) you had zones that were designed for the story rather than the story designed around the zones. Most of those zones were too far out of the way to be of any real use to players at large.

In the case of Al'taieu and Tu'Lia, sure you had bosses that you could pop and fight the bosses out of order, but it wasn't that different than running a raid. You're putting too much value on being able to fight the bosses out of order and devaluing the fact that because instances are designed with the bosses in mind, the fights tend to be much more mechanically involved.

I'm not against having zones connected to endgame, but I am more in favor of world-relevant zones over story-relevant zones. This is not mentioning that with quests being one of the main ways to level in 2.0, you technically do get zones that are unlocked as you advance the story. This should not stop the devs from introducing well-designed and memorable zones, though.

[Elexia]

@OP: You forget that in FFXI (specially in the case of CoP) you had zones that were designed for the story rather than the story designed around the zones. Most of those zones were too far out of the way to be of any real use to players at large.

What you forget is that the majority of zones in XI all were designed that were based on story elements as well. In CoP there were some zones purely made for story purposes, but that was outweighed by the regular zones introduced. The only story related zones are:

R. Site A01/B01
Sacrarium (doubles for NM fights and subligar farming)
Phomina Aquaducts (though doubles for other stuff like subligar farming)
Promyvions
Pso`Xja (doubles for other stuff)

This is ignoring the BCNM areas and regarding the capped period. Otherwise a lot of zones were designed to be unlocked and explored through the story then later on your own (you know, like a FF game tends to do.) Everything in XI was world relevant and story relevant because the lore and storylines fit into the world like a good RPG.

[Duelle]

What you forget is that the majority of zones in XI all were designed that were based on story elements as well.

There's a difference between a zone that fits into the story and a zone that is designed for the story. Zi'tah and Bibiki Bay are good examples of the former. Attowa Chasm and Riverne being of the latter. I'm against the latter while being for the former.

Otherwise a lot of zones were designed to be unlocked and explored through the story then later on your own (you know, like a FF game tends to do.) Everything in XI was world relevant and story relevant because the lore and storylines fit into the world like a good RPG.

As always, you and I are not going to agree on that. What CoP did is use the tried and true "cluster of zones" that is typical of an expansion with a couple of scraps added to the main continent. Problem is that they created the zones exclusively for the story, and it shows when there is no real reason to be in the Archipelago outside of the CoP missions barring one or two extra things like subligar farming. Even if you were to go back in time and convince Tanaka to not put in the three promyvion requirement, the zones as designed are not inviting. You wouldn't see the kind of shift to the Archipelago as you did when Bibiki Bay opened up, much less the shift to Bafflau Thickets when TAU hit.