Comments from the Devs

[Cichy]

i actually wouldn't mind if they periodically makeover zones by adding some kind of epic destruction. you know, to go with whatever "danger to eorzea" plotlines they're thinking of. kinda like the way the present time windurst/past windurst after wings came out.

Be awesome if they had like 2 versions of each zone, one for peaceful times and one for invasion

[Hyan]

They might as well do that and delay the first expansion. There's more than enough stuff in the mainlands to last for a long time still.

Then again maybe I'm just biased because it was the area I played in during the alpha/beta back when you could believe the game had potential, idk.

I don't understand why you're still hanging around here if this isn't the case for you anymore, just saying .

[Vuitton]

whats with all of these world of warcraft cataclysm remake the old word as completely destroyed fantasies? the garlean empire isnt deathwing/chin attacking random shit. they're a tactical/strategic empire.

its worse than the lodestone general forum discussion.

just fix the damn forest so its more open and add more trees. done.

[Hyan]

just fix the damn forest so its more open and add more trees. done.

It just would be nice if they justified it in-game instead of having patch notes say:

[dev1337] The Black Shroud has been redesigned.

Garlean empire being the culprit would simply make sense at this point, although they could make up some aetherite-based stuff as well.

[Tomino]

[dev7777] The game has been redone and it's now fun, addictive and rich in content.

[Achitophel]

None of the zones intrinsically are that bad, the problem is they're too big and thus get boring. If they're gonna be that big, they have to be better, all around.

[Gulkeeva]

Considering "depleted crystals" is probably tied to the primals in some way (or maybe garland empire found a way to drain primals of power) and destroying whatevers there in some way. May be an event of some sort before it happens since they spent the time to add the depleted crystal item to the game.

[Shuichi]

None of the zones intrinsically are that bad, the problem is they're too big and thus get boring. If they're gonna be that big, they have to be better, all around.

I have to agree here. Since the zones are so large, this is why there is so much copy-pasta found in them.

[Katlan]

Nothing wrong w/ large zones "if" they have diversity to them. But nobody likes a large zone in which you have seen everything about "that" zone w/in the first few minutes of being there.

Spoiler: show

caves don't count

[Lordender]

I don't like how big the zones are in FFXIV, they were perfect size in FFXI, not too big, not too small but just big enough where it didn't feel retarded without chocobo's.

Its going to be really interesting if they do try to fix the terrain in the future though.

[Draylo]

I would like if they weren't copy pasted.... terrible. Big is ok, seeing the same thing over and over is not.

[Cichy]

I think the problem isnt as much with the size of the zones but with the lack of purpose in them. Retarded monster placement adds to that. It just seems to me they been put together without thinking about where people should exp or anything.

[Kaylia]

FFXIV had one of the least interesting environment I've seen in a mmo, and the level progression isn't helping. Being locked in one of the few camps for a couple of days is retarded.

Nothing has a purpose in this game. It's just a big empty cage with a lot of monsters everywhere. Even the newly added quests fail to give a purpose to the world (at least the one I did). The mobs might have been placed anywhere , and the quest would have been the same.

[Hyan]

To this day it's hard to notice the copy-paste outside black shroud. You gotta be looking for it to see it. Otherwise it's just scenery you pass while running (from many different angles). But still, more distinctive landmarks in the open would spice things up in all areas.

While in XI the world was full of remnants of the past events (ghosts in gusgen, crags, drogaroga's spine, shadow lord's castle, the crystallized trees in batallia, qufim's shape..) it feels like in XIV we are living the time right before those kind of events took place. Sure, shit went down 15 years ago in Ala Mhigo (and hopefully the region will look like it when released) and something terrible happened in Thanalan 1500 years ago that left some remnants of ancient civilization scattered around the place (which would be a nice justification to "discover" landmarks in there) but there's a lot more going on in the present as well. More like ToAU and WoTG rather than RoTZ where everyone is chillin' and playing sports pvp games for fun since the beastmen are in a pathetic state.

As for how they are using the lore with the quests so far, I think I like them a lot more than XI's that IMO were more "spice of life"-style, and didn't really do justice to the background story.

[Kaylia]

Like you said, it's not the copy paste that is the main issue, it's the lack of landmark. However, the lack of landmark is also the reason why people noticed the copy paste...there is nothing else to distract you from it.


Either way, copy pasted or not, a huge field of rock is boring as fuck, and that's what I hate about the game. There is no building, no meaningful hub, and very little diversity.

As for how they are using the lore with the quests so far, I think I like them a lot more than XI's that IMO were more "spice of life"-style, and didn't really do justice to the background story.

FFXI early quests were terrible. Shitty lore, not fun to do, not rewarding. They got better around WoTG though.

[miokomioko]

These sidequests need cutscenes for fuck's sake. I wonder what their design/animation teams are working on full-bore if they couldn't be shaken from it to make a few measly scenes, even if they're just an NPC talking/gesturing... anything instead of them just spitting some dialog over their shoulder in your general direction.

[Hyan]

If the class and main scenario quests are what they're making cutscenes for, I hope they'll unlock requirements for them. Especially on the higher ranks. If those quests are the only ones that will contain cutscenes (aside from maybe few select sidequests), we need to be able to do most of them.

[Cichy]

FFXIV had one of the least interesting environment I've seen in a mmo, and the level progression isn't helping. Being locked in one of the few camps for a couple of days is retarded.

Nothing has a purpose in this game. It's just a big empty cage with a lot of monsters everywhere. Even the newly added quests fail to give a purpose to the world (at least the one I did). The mobs might have been placed anywhere , and the quest would have been the same.

I just cant comprehend what they were thinking when placing monsters for most parts. I remember in XI when I went 1st time to valkrum dunes, there were like 30 different spots where you could exp and plenty of monsters you can pull. In 14 there are so many places that have not enough monsters, too big of a spread between monsters, stupid mix of them, just pointless placement. Oh and wtf with all those caves with like 5 mobs inside or sometimes even 2.

[Hyan]

I just cant comprehend what they were thinking when placing monsters for most parts. I remember in XI when I went 1st time to valkrum dunes, there were like 30 different spots where you could exp and plenty of monsters you can pull. In 14 there are so many places that have not enough monsters, too big of a spread between monsters, stupid mix of them, just pointless placement. Oh and wtf with all those caves with like 5 mobs inside or sometimes even 2.

You are not meant to progress the same way. As Kaylia said, Guildleves.

Too bad they were not popular in the poll. It's probably the last feature they'll go and fix. Although just adding diversity would help.

[solracht]

I have to agree with Kaylia, the quests have failed to add any kind of purpose to the world. They feel really random, detached and depressing, and at least for me, this detracts a lot from the actual story being told (which is actually good, not going to argue against that).

-"Dodos are destroying my crops!" - you go kill dodos that aren't anywhere near crops (said crops don't actually exist either).
-"Monsters are attacking chocobo carriages!" - you go to a random spot and have non-aggresive enemies spawn on you. No carriages anywhere.
-"Garleans have a camp in Mor Dhona!" - No, they don't.

I do not want every square meter of the map to have a purpose or to house a key group of npcs/buildings (which is what they do in a lot of western MMORPGs and this makes the world feel like it was built for the sake of your advancement), but damn, we're taking the completely opposite approach here: barren world filled with purposeless enemies. The enemies that are spawned or placed for the sake of the "story" aren't much better since they lack the right context.

The lore and story are somewhere, but it certainly doesn't feel like they are in the game. The world would feel so much more alive and immersive if the story and lore actually showed somewhere beyond npc chatter.

EDIT: Don't get me wrong, I hope they're using resources on more important things than this, but in the meantime I can still find our sidequests/world unsatisfying.