Fixing the "ghost town" problem.

[Kazimir]

Until we get another new city that we'll all flock too, Uldah will be the hub due to retainers. However, I feel to discourage repetitiveness by everyone only leveling in the Thanalan region, we need some sort of bonus for going to the other areas. I believe the key to this is we need a sense of belonging to a city. As the game is now, we start out in a chosen city, but there is no real affiliation to it.

Because of this non-affiliation, and the fact that there is no real benefit to starting out in a specific city, people flock to a single city, only returning to the others for missions, and maybe guild support. We need some sort of reward for leveling around the city of our choosing.

Here are some ideas I've thought about:

• We should be able to affiliate ourselves with the city-state we start in. As adventurers we are hired swords and free-lancers in the current time of peace, but as stated before the peace will not be permanent. When things start going bad, it would only make sense for us to be hired or allied with a specific city. The cities may be allied against the empire, but that doesn't mean each city-state doesn't have it's own agenda and want for power and resources. Obviously if we were able to choose whatever city we wanted at that time, just about everyone would join Uldah, so it should be pre-determined by the city-state we start in.
  
  
• Remove guardians favor and instead grant SP bonuses for leveling in a cities controlled area. Or you can simply make it so Guardians Favor can only be used in an area controlled by the players city.
  
  
• Give us some sort of "city points" for leveling in our city-states controlled area. We should be able to gain a small amount from grinding on normal mobs, and a slightly larger amount for doing guildleves in that area. Give us a quartermaster that we can buy things from. Equipment, potions & ethers, temporary stat boosting items, crystals, etc. They could give out unique items such as a ring that allows the player to teleport to their city without using anima.
  
  
• To help encourage an even population in each city, grant unique equipment rewards in connection to city-state missions. If not missions, you could make quests that can only be done by members of that city-state. You could possibly base the rewards depending on what guilds are based in that city. So for someone wanting to level an Archer, if they wish to have a certain unique gear set for their class they would need to become affiliated with Gridania.
  
  
• Make current and future Faction leve points dependent on the area you rank in. If you want to get points for the Buffalo Faction leve, then do leves in La Noscea. For drakes, Thanalan. (I'm sure this won't be popular.) Another idea would be to just increase the amount of faction leve points rewarded if you're doing it in the correct region.
  
  
• Reputation. There are a lot of possibilities with a reputation system. There could be all sorts of ways to gain reputation. Getting higher levels of reputation could lead to more rewards and special perks. Things like unlocking more and more quests as your reputation rises, which would in-turn reward the player with more special items. Reputation would also get people to do things in cities other than the one they are affiliated with.

Some you may like, others I know many will not like. But they are just ideas. So please, give your opinions, or another suggestion I haven't mentioned.

[Rau]

bring back Conquest and Signets. NPCs and other features are only available in cities in the highest position

[Lamhirh]

bring back Conquest and Signets. NPCs and other features are only available in cities in the highest position

and like in FFXI, most weill associate wit one country, and all others will be left with totally nothing<_<

[Kilta_Firelotus]

i like it. minus the GF that is seperate lore based on us choosing who of the 12 we worship.

[Kazimir]

i like it. minus the GF that is seperate lore based on us choosing who of the 12 we worship.

Good point ^^ I kind of forgot about that part of the lore.

[NeoNight1986]

agreed or something similar anyway. Conquest and signets were well done. not saying they should be replicated.. but if you need ideas feel free to look at them. I always Felt that sandy was my home and was rewarded for it ^_^

also (i am not sure if they have it yet or not) reputation should be included. doing stuff for a city and getting bonuses for it. ffxi has it.. wow .. rift.. it works.

[chime85]

Maybe an idea to circulate the population (as well as the great ideas above) could be a "tax system" on retainers. This is not for just Uldar, but whichever city turns the most popular on that week.

For instance, a 10% tax on retainers un Uldar on week 1, the larger population move to Limsa Lominsa, wee 2 tax is 10% in LL. The cycle of course moves on

[Nabiri]

• Remove guardians favor and instead grant SP bonuses for leveling in a cities controlled area. Or you can simply make it so Guardians Favor can only be used in an area controlled by the players city.
  
  
• Give us some sort of "city points" for leveling in our city-states controlled area. We should be able to gain a small amount from grinding on normal mobs, and a slightly larger amount for doing guildleves in that area. Give us a quartermaster that we can buy things from. Equipment, potions & ethers, temporary stat boosting items, crystals, etc. They could give out unique items such as a ring that allows the player to teleport to their city without using anima.

All good ideas. I like these best though.

[Veasna]

Make market wards global and i think we'd see a lot more people hanging out in Gridania and Limsa Lominsa. Not everyone hangs out in Ul'dah because they always find it most fun.

[Nabiri]

Make market wards global and i think we'd see a lot more people hanging out in Gridania and Limsa Lominsa. Not everyone hangs out in Ul'dah because they always find it most fun.

http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...Population-Fix

I think they need to make changes not only to the market wards, but to the cities - like the ideas this OP suggests.
There's more than one reason people gather in U'dah, so I don't think changing the market wards alone will fix it.