I suppose SE has a couple of different goals in mind when we think about why they made certain things in the game and why they didn't make others.
On one hand, they want to fix all of the hindering and most often complained about features, or lack of features, in FFXI. When talking about the Aetheryte, I can most definitely assume that during discussions there was a lot of talk about making the world easier to travel. Because I agree completely, FFXI forced you as a nub, and even as a high level toon to explore. You only had like 5 places to teleport in-game, and there was maybe a handful of rare/ex items that allowed you to port directly to the major cities, and I think maybe 3 or 4 NPC's that would teleport you other places as well.
I think there was like, one outpost per area in XI..? And I haven't explored too much of Eorzea, but I've already been to three camps just outside Ul'dah and I'm not even rank 10. Making the game easier to play, hinders some of the "immersion" and this exploration option. It's sorta similar with the boats, I'm sure they thought about putting in pirates and big sea monsters, especially with Limsa, but I'm sure they could see people complaining and bashing the game because "I was level 5 and I was just minding my own business on the boat and this giant Cthulhu lookin' thing beat me to hell this game sucks!!1!11!" But they had to make a compromise-- appeal to new players who've been playing WoW for their whole life or other similar MMOs, which those are significantly tailored to give you a helping hand moreso than XI ever did, or keep the long and often dangerous methods of running everywhere, that gave the veteran players on FFXI their love for the world. It's a tough call.
In the long run they're just trying to keep people interested and happy, and for now they're compromising a lot of things just to make the game more appealing, easier to play and easier to pick up if you've never played XI. The number 1 goal for an MMO developer is KEEP them playing. I'm sure after a couple more patches, when they expand the world, things might be radically different. For now I'm just enjoying myself, and I'm looking forward to the day when I'll be able to say "Hey remember that time when the game was like this? Man that sucked.. Good times!".
On one hand, they want to fix all of the hindering and most often complained about features, or lack of features, in FFXI. When talking about the Aetheryte, I can most definitely assume that during discussions there was a lot of talk about making the world easier to travel. Because I agree completely, FFXI forced you as a nub, and even as a high level toon to explore. You only had like 5 places to teleport in-game, and there was maybe a handful of rare/ex items that allowed you to port directly to the major cities, and I think maybe 3 or 4 NPC's that would teleport you other places as well.
I think there was like, one outpost per area in XI..? And I haven't explored too much of Eorzea, but I've already been to three camps just outside Ul'dah and I'm not even rank 10. Making the game easier to play, hinders some of the "immersion" and this exploration option. It's sorta similar with the boats, I'm sure they thought about putting in pirates and big sea monsters, especially with Limsa, but I'm sure they could see people complaining and bashing the game because "I was level 5 and I was just minding my own business on the boat and this giant Cthulhu lookin' thing beat me to hell this game sucks!!1!11!" But they had to make a compromise-- appeal to new players who've been playing WoW for their whole life or other similar MMOs, which those are significantly tailored to give you a helping hand moreso than XI ever did, or keep the long and often dangerous methods of running everywhere, that gave the veteran players on FFXI their love for the world. It's a tough call.
In the long run they're just trying to keep people interested and happy, and for now they're compromising a lot of things just to make the game more appealing, easier to play and easier to pick up if you've never played XI. The number 1 goal for an MMO developer is KEEP them playing. I'm sure after a couple more patches, when they expand the world, things might be radically different. For now I'm just enjoying myself, and I'm looking forward to the day when I'll be able to say "Hey remember that time when the game was like this? Man that sucked.. Good times!".
