Quality of Life Improvements and MSQ Gating for New Players

[TwistedTea]

This reddit thread here expresses some of the things, I've been thinking about FFXIV as a new player and someone who was introduced to the FF franchise through this game.

MSQ gating content seems like a huge turnoff to most casual players,the main target demographic for FFXIV.

A casual player who just wants to hang out with friends in Stormblood areas/do the newest content has to slog through at least 3-4 months of MSQ (ARR to the start of Stormblood),assuming they're playing 2 hours daily.

If they want to get into raids at this point, at least another 2 months to get geared up.

Sure there's the jump potion,free trial and the first 30 days free. However, after purchasing the game,the investment of further time and money compared to some other popular games,which let you get into the newest content faster,doesn't seem worth it.

[TwistedTea]

The MSQ ought to be condensed, especially ARR's MSQ.

Areas/Maps should not be gated behind MSQ and neither should content(eg NPCs/NPC vendors who only unlock after completing some points of MSQ.)

Would this 'break' the story? Perhaps but players entering these areas,unlocking these NPCs,could maybe get a spolier alert warning or something.

[Okamimaru]

The MSQ ought to be condensed, especially ARR's MSQ.

Areas/Maps should not be gated behind MSQ and neither should content(eg NPCs/NPC vendors who only unlock after completing some points of MSQ.)

Would this 'break' the story? Perhaps but players entering these areas,unlocking these NPCs,could maybe get a spolier alert warning or something.

Since you're new to final fantasy as a series you might not know that the heart of all final fantasy games revolves around its story.. disregarding the fact that monsters would obliterate lowbies and that certain areas are only available with purchase of expansions... a spolier alert wouldn't help for some things because it would literally break the story to access those areas... like going to ishgard... or churning mists... or anywhere in stormblood (it's occupied territory ).

[TwistedTea]

...the heart of all final fantasy games revolves around its story..

This is all well and good, if FFXIV was a single-player game.However, it is not. It is first and foremost an MMORPG catered towards casuals focusing on a social/community experience. The current MSQ gating is detrimental towards the social aspect and also a matter of accessibility for casuals.

If a lowbie enters an area with high level mobs, that's their problem.In WOW, as a lowbie, I can sneak into high level areas;it's my fault if I get one-shotted by an aggro mob. To me, it makes the world more realistic.

Not having purchased certain expansions and the areas associated with those expansions; in programming that's a 'simple'(although really tedious) problem to solve with a whole bunch of if-else statements etc.

Any player who unlocks content before the story can be 'warned'. Not everyone plays with story as their main priority. It's about giving people options.

[Krotoan]

The MSQ ought to be condensed, especially ARR's MSQ.

Areas/Maps should not be gated behind MSQ and neither should content(eg NPCs/NPC vendors who only unlock after completing some points of MSQ.)
Would this 'break' the story? Perhaps but players entering these areas,unlocking these NPCs,could maybe get a spolier alert warning or something.

In this game that has constant complaints of "but there's nothing to do!", reducing even more content to trivial skippability would be a bad idea. Someone who layed down the money to get ARR AND HW AND SB would be cheating themselves of "content" if they just walked into the new areas, not to mention the barriers presented to botters by gating things behind expansions helps keep them out of the current player blob. Yes there's a lot of stuff you "have" to do to be current, but having a level one waltz into Shirogane isn't worth the amount of changes necessary to the game to make it happen. I wouldn't like to know that time and dev resources were devoted to that when they could be making things for the current majority. If you don't actually read the MSQ and just blitz through dungeons and cutscenes it's maybe 2 weeks of nightly work. If you don't care about story then this really isn't that great a game for you. Sure some people don't and the still play the game but the meat of this game is in the story, not the innovative gameplay , job dynamics or graphics.

[bass9020]

Its a Final Fantasy game first and for most. Why does every game ever have to be exactly the same? XIV does things differently, not all good but not all bad. They gave players a way to get to current content in the form of story skip potions. They did this because its not easy to chop up the main story and still have it make sense and it is also the way they expect people to level there first class/job. The only thing I agree with is allowing access to all areas regardless of where you are in the story, just let NPCs react to you differently, they already have that feature now.

Cohesive story telling is a warm welcome compared to random main quests here and there broken up and not really giving any substance.

[TwistedTea]

In this game that has constant complaints of "but there's nothing to do!", reducing even more content to trivial skippability would be a bad idea...

That's not a valid complaint though.More a matter of perception.The Hildebrand quest line is optional but I would highly recommend it to every new player. What I'm suggesting, is making the MSQ 'optional' in a similar manner.

I've enjoyed the story for the most part and I get that this is a story-based game. However, when viewing this as a casual comparing FFXIV against the competition; FFXIV is not an 'accessible' game. Which to me means loss in revenue from new players considering that SE has made it clear this is an MMORPG catered towards casuals.

Lesser new players=lesser revenue to develop new/content for players all caught up on MSQ.And perhaps even more overpriced Mog Station items/phone companion apps to make up for the loss in revenue.

[Krotoan]

That's not a valid complaint though.More a matter of perception.The Hildebrand quest line is optional but I would highly recommend it to every new player. What I'm suggesting, is making the MSQ 'optional' in a similar manner.

I've enjoyed the story for the most part and I get that this is a story-based game. However, when viewing this as a casual comparing FFXIV against the competition; FFXIV is not an 'accessible' game. Which to me means loss in revenue from new players considering that SE has made it clear this is an MMORPG catered towards casuals.

Lesser new players=lesser revenue to develop new/content for players all caught up on MSQ.And perhaps even more overpriced Mog Station items/phone companion apps to make up for the loss in revenue.

How is "there's nothing to do" invalid though? Some people HAVE done all the content that interests them. Personally I play almost exclusively for the story and glamours. I don't extreme raid and I don't PVP. When I run out of story and have no current glamour goals I play far far less. All are welcome and there is no rush to burn through content because at the end all that awaits you is tiny increments of increasing gearscore. Every major MSQ checkpoint or gate is doable with gear provided in story, there should be no point in the first run through you are lacking. This is a casual game in that it's possible for a "casual" player to keep up with current events, not that it requires very little investment of time at all.

Think of it this way: Skipping grinds = less time playing the game in total = shorter subscriptions and less player investment (people who feel invested feel like they should keep investing)= less consistent funding for the game = less money to make more game.

[Stoutale]

Sure some people don't and the still play the game but the meat of this game is in the story, not the innovative gameplay , job dynamics or graphics.

As a basically new player (played for a short time years ago) unless you are a FF fanatic I can’t imagine watching/reading this storyline. I first logged in saying I was going to do that, then I realized I could sooner read War and Peace and watch every Star Wars movie ever made faster then watch and read this story line with all the dialogue and cut scenes. Not knocking it, I’m sure it’s great, but I believe more then you think completely ignore it and play it for other reasons, not the least of which is they have got bored with other MMOs and it’s different.

[AppleJinx]

I am glad it's there to filter the impatient people out since chances are I wouldn't want to be playing with them anyway