Rate of Leveling and the New Player Experience

[Mefuki]

Now, don't get me wrong, I'm glad that things have become much more reasonable in FFXI, especially for new players. I was one of those people that beat CoP while it was still hard and was actually pleased that people would get the chance to advance in the mission line when it got easier (read: more reasonable). Levelling, in hindsight, was SO ridiculous. It took me a year, literally a year to get my first 75 job. Tons of things have changed for the absolute better but there's something I don't understand that keeps getting brought up in these topics:


I don't think I'm understanding peoples definition of "gate" or "roadblock". The CoP "gate" issue is really an odd one to me. It's not like old CoP.

It's not like how leveling used to be where you COULD NOT progress without other people. Where if the correct jobs or people weren't online, you were dead in the water.

Or Legion, where you simply weren't "allowed" to join without the "correct" jobs. Where if you were only interested in playing with the "wrong" job, you were dead in the water.

JP midnights: Roadblock. Trying to get through Necropolis, Quicksand Caves, etc in old FFXI: Roadblock. Trying to buy items from shops on holidays: Roadblock. Old AU Beastman king kills: Roadblock.

Heck, even current Delve I could CONCEIVE how someone would think that even IT is a minor "roadblock" because you still need to know some people who are decently geared and know the NM's strategies etc.

There's nothing "dead in the water" or "roadblock"-y about CoP. You just have to go and do it, on your own or with others, any time you want. So, I don't see the issue. A roadblock is something that impedes your progress and there's nothing you can do about it. And that isn't really happening anymore with mission content (and most things these days), as far as I know. You may as well start complaining that FFXI is giving you incentives to play.

Also, have we really reach the point where some people are complaining about having to collect Home points. You have to do it once and it's done forever and it's SO worth doing. Why complain about having to unlock things that can be done at any time with anyone, solo or in a group of however many friends you wish? Isn't that how games are suppose to operate? By that definition of roadblock, every video game in existence is riddled with roadblocks. "I want to go to the Shine of Winter but I HAVE to collect Great Souls or have 1,000,000+ souls. Roadblock." "I want to go to Tick, Tock Clock but I HAVE to get a ton of stars. Roadblock." "I want to go into Ganon's Castle but I need 6 Medallions. Roadblock." etc.


TL;DR: I'm for removing gates and roadblocks but we need to make sure we're not confusing game progression for roadblocks.