Wisdom of Nym: Ways for Final Fantasy XIV to make better use of old zones

In order to Final Fantasy XIV has some zones, huh. Well, this in and of itself is neither a problem nor a problem. There are plenty of locations to explore, and the game generally does a pretty good job of having quests that send you into a variety of zones, even after the MSQ has long since taken a back seat in those areas. It’s good. But… well… that only goes so far, and it does have a little problem when it comes to easy leveling distance. Most people don’t hang out in Yanxia on a regular basis once they’re done with the MSQ, and that means the zones feel a bit empty now.

Is that a touch inevitable? Yes. It will always be a reality of MMOs that the overall population hits the level cap and has been since FFXIV provides players with many opportunities to level together and bring players of different levels together, it is not a crucial problem. But it is an issue that can be addressed by the game as a whole, and I wanted to bring up a few ideas that could help make the existing zones feel a bit more populated even as players move on and complete the MSQ.

Old zones, new tribal quests

I’ve already mentioned that I’m a bit tired with the Loporrits and the reasons for them, but I don’t think this in any way hinders the addition of new tribal quests. In fact, I don’t think we need new tribes at all for tribal quests to take place. We have the Lupine in Othard, we have the Gigas in Mor Dhona, we have the Qiqirn, we have Mamool Yes… there is one a lot of of options around the world, and the fact that we don’t have quests for some of them is kind of weird.

There’s a lot of precedent in the game – particularly in the original zones – for having regions that cover a few different level bands. Yes, in many cases this would probably require the maps to be expanded a bit so people have new spaces to search and explore. But this has happened in previous tribal quests as well, and there are many places in the game where the map is just… missing important details.

Tribal Quests does a good job of engaging players who are leveling alternate jobs as well as players who have hit the level cap but want to explore the new stories and content. And having players around the world gives even high-level players more chances to quit and engage with older FATEs, keeping lower-level content more alive and making them feel sane and rewarding. But as long as we look at FATEs around the world…

Better FATE rewards across the board

Gem rewards were introduced in shadowbringer were a good attempt to get people to make this content even after the leveling was done. However, I don’t think they worked completely, and you can kinda tell why. Sure, the gems are nice in terms of what they can buy and the rewards offered, but all the rewards for them are either trivial in price or so expensive that you have to be an unemployed public nuisance who can spend 16 hours just grinding content while wearing down everything that makes you human to be able to afford it in a reasonable timeframe.

None of these things are ideal. Even if your overpriced reward is something everyone wants (which they never do), most people will make peace with it damned fast if half an hour of play brings them just 0.2% closer to the reward. It’s boring and not fun. Especially as they tend to just do FATEs in new areas so all older areas are abandoned and yes it becomes a vicious cycle.

One of the things I would really like to see in the game is the dynamic adjustment of FATE rewards. Experience rewards become meaningless after a point when you’re already done with your alt jobs and the fact that you get the same amount of reward you get actually want feels redundant. Combine that with other elements, and honestly I think more work needs to be done to make FATEs feel worthwhile for people who are overleveled and want to participate, even in older zones.

Well, as mentioned, having tribal quests in older zones would help drive people into those older zones. But that’s just one component, and I think there’s another option that could help people get into more zones away from the current high-end zones and into more diverse options. And it’s about stealing an older idea…

Eureka/Bozja, but not in new zones

I’ve already talked about Eureka and Bozja being commendable and interesting experiences, but they ended up hitting some notable issues. But I think one of the reasons for that is that these zones, as completely separate things, need to create a completely customized structure for players to operate in. This requires new content, new paths, new enemies, and a whole new game structure that consists mostly of farming FATEs in the new zone for a new random leveling system that doesn’t feel particularly impactful most of the time.

But we already have zones where we could use alternate leveling content and a reason to farm FATEs without worrying about levels – zones that don’t really require a whole bunch of custom content just to explain why we are here as there is already a presence in these zones and a reason players may be called back to clear things up.

Now there needs to be a narrative, maybe some new regions to unlock, and a means of leveling. But these systems don’t need to be burned into the structure of the zone or provide entirely new zones made just for those purposes. It would definitely be some work, say the sea of ​​clouds works both as a zone and as a symbol for leveling through the MSQ and a post MSQ content zone. Tricky, yes! But it can be done and to be honest I believe in the ability of this team to do it.

Well, there’s also a lot of opportunity and motivation for higher-level players to help out already lower-level players, and it’s not like the huge number of ways players can already band together kinda is grotesquely missing. But I think it’s worth reflecting on the fact that various parts of the game world are emptier than they need to be, and as we approach the 10th anniversary of the relaunch these are questions worth answering and considering.

As always, feedback is welcome in the comments below or by emailing eliot@massivelyop.com. Next week we’ll almost certainly have our patch notes to read ahead of the patch, so obviously that’s going to be my focus. I mean, what else could it be?

The Nymian civilization harbored an immense amount of knowledge and learning, but so much of it has been lost to the people of Eorzea. That doesn’t stop Eliot Lefebvre from investigating Final Fantasy XIV each week in Wisdom of Nym, hosting guides, discussions, and opinions without a trace of resentment.

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