Possible level/story jumps....really?

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Originally Posted by bass9020

I can't really argue against that since the 3 new jobs already start at lvl 30 which imo I'm not a fan of. But I wouldn't rule that out I guess.

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To be fair, if those three Jobs did start at level 1, then they would have needed to be available outside of Ishgard/before finishing 2.55.

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Originally Posted by Nestama

To be fair, if those three Jobs did start at level 1, then they would have needed to be available outside of Ishgard/before finishing 2.55.

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Yea I agree, they could have started once you reached Coerthas Central Highlands for the first time. Majority of there beginning stories start in that area anyway and I'm sure a lot more people would have been happier. This also would lead to less people complaining about story and leveling other things. Heres to hoping 4.0 changes this!

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Originally Posted by Voltyblast

But what's worse is, considering they're planning this potion already, I have a feeling that this means that subs are either not growing, or going down...but I'm only speculating so don't take me seriously.

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Or they recognize in a game where we're considering climbing up, requiring new players to slug through a massive amount of quests will further deter them. This will only become a bigger hurdle as the game grows. People want to play with their friends not do an occasional dungeon or two than spend the next 10 hours on their own again. SE likely wants to get this out of the way early.

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Originally Posted by Bourne_Endeavor

Or they recognize in a game where we're considering climbing up, requiring new players to slug through a massive amount of quests will only further deter them. This will only become a bigger hurdle as the game grows. People want to play with their friends not do an occasional dungeon or two than spend the next 10 hours on their own again. SE likely wants to get this out of the way early.

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They can still play with there friends! It makes no sense what so ever to allow someone into content where they don't belong because they have friends waiting. They will get to it when they get to it.

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Originally Posted by bass9020

They can still play with there friends! It makes no sense what so ever to allow someone into content where they don't belong because they have friends waiting. They will get to it when they get to it.

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I also don't know about you but I wouldn't want to play with friends who won't even deign to come back and help me through the past content because its old to them and they simply want to rush on ahead to the endgame in a couple weeks so they can complain some about the lack of things even when there is tons for them to do, they simply refuse to do it.

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Originally Posted by bass9020

They can still play with there friends! It makes no sense what so ever to allow someone into content where they don't belong because they have friends waiting. They will get to it when they get to it.

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Well that attitude won't keep people in the game or attract new players. How do you propose to keep things as they are now 3 expansion packs from now?

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Originally Posted by NaesakiAshwell

I also don't know about you but I wouldn't want to play with friends who won't even deign to come back and help me through the past content because its old to them and they simply want to rush on ahead to the endgame in a couple weeks so they can complain some about the lack of things even when there is tons for them to do, they simply refuse to do it.

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Then they should find different friends to play with. People who can't be asked to help others with "old" content really aren't the type of people I want to associate with. In my FC we hold events to help newer players or returning players with thing, not as often as we should but even when we do them we have a great time. Its just odd that people want to skip those memories and moments.

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Originally Posted by MilesSaintboroguh

Well that attitude won't keep people in the game or attract new players. How do you propose to keep things as they are now 3 expansion packs from now?

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Why because they can't press a button and magically be at the end? Im sorry but if we are attracting people just to have them ingame then Yoshi should just take everything out of this game that has to do with player growth.

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Originally Posted by bass9020

Probably want to find new friends to play with then m8.

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I wasn't talking about myself?

I was just pointing out how people seem to think they won't be able to play with their friends if they aren't caught up instantly they act like their friends won't even help them to catch up.

Just saying those kind of people aren't really friends if they won't even lift a finger to help you enjoy the experience :v

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Originally Posted by NaesakiAshwell

I wasn't talking about myself?

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My bad! I shall edit my post. PLEASE FORGIVE ME

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Originally Posted by bass9020

My bad! I shall edit my post. PLEASE FORGIVE ME

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All is forgiven :P

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Originally Posted by bass9020

They can still play with there friends! It makes no sense what so ever to allow someone into content where they don't belong because they have friends waiting. They will get to it when they get to it.

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And that attitude is what causes them to quit. Doing everything to reach Heavensward at a non-grind pace is basically a full month before you'll be anywhere near your friends-- much longer if you do anything else. A lot of people aren't going to wait that long nor do they have any desire to speed up the progress with 10+ hour days. I don't like a jump potion, but it does make sense from a business perspective. SE wants new players to easily have access to relevant content. While I, too, worried over DF being swamped with bad players. If we're honest, the people who have any interest in playing well, will ask questions and research their selected job because they want to be good. Bad players won't give a damn even if you spell it out for them. Grinding through the story to "learn your job" isn't going to make a lazy player less lazy. I mean, think about it. How many of us grind fates to level alt jobs then learn to play them effectively at much higher levels? I did that with DRG, and am doing it with DRK. We learned the jobs at near max level. New players who want to will do the same.

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Originally Posted by Kosmos992k

No, that's not true at all. The point of an MMO is for people to play together. The point of a story is to experience it individually. MMOS contain content for solo play as well as multi-player. Having the majority of the story as solo content and having specific events in the story as multi-player is a perfectly viable way to add a linear story to an MMORPG. It sounds to me like you may favor a more open world sand box style of game which is, IMHO, essentially incompatible with telling a decent story because the player 'makes' their own...::rolls eyes::

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Eh, do you even realize what you just said? I agree completely - the point of an MMO is for people to play together. The linear storyline is PREVENTING people from playing together. They WANT to play where the other people are playing - but they can't, because they have weeks' worth of storyline to get through just to get where the people are.

With multiple storylines, players have the option of choosing a shorter path to get where the people are. They can start right off with the latest expansion's story, and once they've gotten into the thick of endgame they can choose to explore the other storylines at their leisure.

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Originally Posted by Kosmos992k

And? Seriously, if they are not interested in the story, then why play this game instead of some other MMORPG that caters to people who don't care about story. FF games are always story driven, to expect otherwise is to expect FF to be something it's not.

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Final fantasy games are story driven, yes, but this is an MMORPG: it's not the same thing. MMORPGs are based around gameplay (or else 1.0 wouldn't be shut down to begin with), however not only this game forces you to follow a story that you may or may not like it, but also needlessly locks content for the sake of the "lore". The bible this is not: they can change whatever they want, if they wanted, to make it flexible for everyone. "This is a Final Fantasy" game is a bad excuse nowadays: I've played RPGs where story and gameplay were perfectly balanced. And again, this is an MMORPG: gameplay is above everything else. Yes, even story, and I'm pretty sure this is why 2.0 was a success. It wasn't broken at least...

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Originally Posted by Kosmos992k

Implementing story skipping and level boosting potions is pay to win, in a story driven RPG, which this is. Implementing such things cheapens the existing content and those who played and enjoyed it, it also creates a divide in the player population between those playing the game and enjoying the world and those treating it as a glorified multiplayer arcade fighter. It's a terrible idea, and will hurt the game. Long term subscribers who enjoy the story and lore will be gradually driven out by the lazy player crowd who don't give a shit about story.

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I agree that the potion is bad but, excuse me for my ignorance, why would "skipping the story" hurt the game? They'd still play for the gameplay. Infact there are people who only play for the gameplay and probably never cared for the story whatsoever (hello!). Maybe you mean it would hurt the game's STORY...ehm how? If by chance they made story optional, you'd still be able to follow it like you do now, but those who don't follow the story now won't follow the story anyway: the situation won't change really much. Infact making optional would actually allow players to follow the story by their own means and pace. I can only see win-win here honestly: people who want story get their story, people who want gameplay get their gameplay, and it's not even that hard: just don't make the story lock content and you're done, allow everything to be unlocked with a simple quest or level.
Although I have a feeling that the reason why it might hurt, it's because the actual people who follow the story would be much less than you think....I'm only speculating here though.

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Originally Posted by Kosmos992k

That's a lot of unsubstantiated speculation. Regardless of the growth or otherwise of player numbers, a more interesting statistic might be the length of subscription vs intent to stay subscribed. Implementing a big fat lazy button that eviscerates the content of the game will hurt that number, and those long term subs are the bread and butter of this game since they are the ones who stay subbed between patches..

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Uh oh, someone missed a very important statement of that: that's is entirely speculation from me. You know, I might be totally, utterly, incredibly and undeniably wrong, but it IS a concern however because, while in WoW the "lazy button" makes somewhat sense - that game has 6 expansions - this game has just 1 expansion. Unless they're so greedy that they want dem money, this is really a bad idea and it seems we agree on that (hey it's something!). But the thing is, "Why such an idea so soon?" hence I gave my ideas: either the game's story locks people to the point of unsubscribing, or maybe the numbers aren't growing enough and so they want to be more open. I dunno, as I said I'm speculating, it's almost like I said an undeniable truth and...oh right, this is the internet: MY BAD!

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Originally Posted by Voltyblast

"This is a Final Fantasy" game is a bad excuse nowadays: I've played RPGs where story and gameplay were perfectly balanced. And again, this is an MMORPG: gameplay is above everything else. Yes, even story, and I'm pretty sure this is why 2.0 was a success. It wasn't broken at least...

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No, I disagree completely. Gameplay is not above all else. and yes this is a final Fantasy game, and it's a perfectly valid reason to object to eviscerating the story in the game to satisfy lazy gamers with the attention span of a Goldfish.

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Originally Posted by Voltyblast

I agree that the potion is bad but, excuse me for my ignorance, why would "skipping the story" hurt the game?

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Because it would create a cadre of people among the playerbase who don't understand the world, nor the situation they are in. This is a virtual world we play in, not just an assembly of boss battles one after another.

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Originally Posted by Voltyblast

They'd still play for the gameplay. Infact there are people who only play for the gameplay and probably never cared for the story whatsoever (hello!). Maybe you mean it would hurt the game's STORY...ehm how?

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I doubt very much that any significant proportion of the players are playing because they like the gameplay, but don't care at all about the story, world, etc. I didn't mean that it would hurt the story, however it would in fact hurt the story too.

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Originally Posted by Voltyblast

If by chance they made story optional, you'd still be able to follow it like you do now, but those who don't follow the story now won't follow the story anyway: the situation won't change really much. Infact making optional would actually allow players to follow the story by their own means and pace.

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No, it allows players who don't care to cheat their way through the game skipping story and levelling. While players who follow the story fall behind immediately. It's paid cheating sanctioned by the game maker, pure and simple.

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Originally Posted by Voltyblast

I can only see win-win here honestly: people who want story get their story, people who want gameplay get their gameplay, and it's not even that hard: just don't make the story lock content and you're done, allow everything to be unlocked with a simple quest or level.

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It's not a win/win is a lose/lose. You can't throw out the story in a story based game without hurting the game. You hurt the story as well because developers spend a lot of time trying to figure out how many of their Dev $$ on given content. If fewer players follow the story, that content get's fewer $$, which directly hurts the story, and game.

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Originally Posted by Voltyblast

Although I have a feeling that the reason why it might hurt, it's because the actual people who follow the story would be much less than you think....I'm only speculating here though.

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Speculate away, all you're doing is confirming in my eyes that you don't don't care about story.

Your position is essentially to say, that because you don't think story matters, it's ok to make it optional, regardless of the consequences to the game, or players. FFXIV is a story driven game, making that story optional, or skippable devalues the very thing that is core to the game. Changing the game that fundamentally will hurt players, the game and the story all so that a bunch of people who might play if only that pesky story wasn't there, can sub, and then unsub a couple of months later when something else new and shiny comes along.

This idea that you can make the story and leveling skippable attacks the game and devalues it in ways that ultimately hurt the player base, and honestly, will drive long standing players from the game if it happens. In my opinion, I'd rather lose a bunch of short term players who'll move on soon anyway than lose a bunch of players who have built roots in Eorzea and shown through their loyalty that they are hee for the long haul.

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Originally Posted by LineageRazor

Eh, do you even realize what you just said? I agree completely - the point of an MMO is for people to play together. The linear storyline is PREVENTING people from playing together. They WANT to play where the other people are playing - but they can't, because they have weeks' worth of storyline to get through just to get where the people are.

With multiple storylines, players have the option of choosing a shorter path to get where the people are. They can start right off with the latest expansion's story, and once they've gotten into the thick of endgame they can choose to explore the other storylines at their leisure.

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Way to go with selective quoting and comprehension.

I said that an MMORPG has to balance solo elements and multi-player elements. So that the story is largely a solo experience except for the points at which players are brought together for larger events that take more than a single player, such as dungeons and trials. I realize completely what I said.

As for your implication that there are weeks of story that has to be completed without the presence of friends, you must have some not so great friends if they won't take time to help you out in progressing the MSQ multi-player events.

Multiple story lines and free form story elements create a disjointed story experience for players. With a linear story - and let's just face it story telling is fundamentally linear, even if you play with flashbacks and stories told through multiple flashbacks and time sequences the story itself is always a linear progression from one event to another - with a linear story, you have commone experience and events to talk about, it creates common ground among players.

Honestly, the worst thing about this game IMHO is the end-game. Fortunately, it's eminently skippable.

Oh boy this topic is back.

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Originally Posted by Kosmos992k

Agree 100%

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Kosmos I feel like its a lost battle with most of the people in favor of these horrible game features but I totally agree with you and can only hope that the devs and Yoshi really think long and hard about this decision that will impact our game heavily.

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Originally Posted by Kosmos992k

Speculate away, all you're doing is confirming in my eyes that you don't don't care about story.

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I personally don't care about the story, no, however I know people care about it and this is why I'm giving my opinions on how it could improved. I could've said "just remove it entirely" but I would be lying if I said that.
However, despite my carelessness for the story I even gave my take on how to make it more relevant because by making them optional the developers can have more freedom, as the game isn't bound to the story.

However, I don't agree with what you said because you're putting the story above everything, even gameplay. While I - according to you that is - devalue the story for gameplay, you are devalueing gameplay for story and guess which one is worse?
Let me just say, that 1.0 didn't exactly shine in gameplay and it was one of the major reason for its shutdown. Even its story couldn't save it (although I heard only later the story became "decent")

And once again, people who don't care about the story WILL NOT CARE in the future, but those who CARE ABOUT THE GAME will keep playing the game in the future. I'm not saying that there is just one kind of people: there are those who want a story and those who don't, which is TOTALLY FINE. It's however useless to say "oh but they won't care about the lore and the story if they can skip it": people already don't care, and they won't bother with the lore to begin with. Not all of course but still a good bunch of players will skip it and never bother. You won't change them. You won't change me. Ever.

And this is why I said that players who follow won't see the difference, because you can still follow the story at your own way. What would stop you to follow if it was optional? It's not being put aside: the story and gameplay can go together, but you don't require both to play it fully. It doesn't necessarily have to be bound to lore to make it sense and again, the bible this is not: they can modify things, remove things, make up reasons, anything.
Or perhaps people will lose the reason to follow it because now it's not mandatory anymore? I'm not saying that's the reason but, the way I spoke with people in the past, they made the MSQ look like busy work. Nobody likes busy work in videogames...

On top of that, with normal RPGs, I can play any chapter of the saga in any order I want: I can play Shadow Hearts 2 before 1, or Ar tonelico 3 before 1, or Atelier Iris 3 before 2, or Digital devil saga 2 before 1, or Drakenkard 2 before 1, Legaia 2 before 1 and etc. It's my loss? Yeah, but guess what: I can play the previous game and learn the story, at my own pace. I usually don't but it's my choice, not the game's. And yes I know they're offline rpgs so they technically don't count, but I'm sure you see my point.

But if you don't agree then...."shrugs" just pray this potion won't come out from the sketches. But I doubt it.

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Originally Posted by Voltyblast

And once again, people who don't care about the story WILL NOT CARE in the future, but those who CARE ABOUT THE GAME will keep playing the game in the future. I'm not saying that there is just one kind of people: there are those who want a story and those who don't, which is TOTALLY FINE. It's however useless to say "oh but they won't care about the lore and the story if they can skip it": people already don't care, and they won't bother with the lore to begin with. Not all of course but still a good bunch of players will skip it and never bother. You won't change them. You won't change me. Ever.

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Actually, I think I've posted before about players who don't care about story or lore, and how they hurt the game and player community, simply by not caring enough to be aware of the story. Whether I can change them, or you, is immaterial. You are seeking to change my game, I don't want it changed. Whether or not I change their minds or yours, doesn't impact the game, but the change you advocate would fundamentally change the game. Rather than fundamentally changing this game, one could argue that you'd be better asking SE to create a new and separate FF MMORPG with zero story and instant level buffs.

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Originally Posted by Voltyblast

with normal RPGs, I can play any chapter of the saga in any order I want: I can play Shadow Hearts 2 before 1, or Ar tonelico 3 before 1, or Atelier Iris 3 before 2, or Digital devil saga 2 before 1, or Drakenkard 2 before 1, Legaia 2 before 1 and etc. It's my loss? Yeah, but guess what: I can play the previous game and learn the story, at my own pace. I usually don't but it's my choice, not the game's. And yes I know they're offline rpgs so they technically don't count, but I'm sure you see my point.

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Xenosaga had 3 episodes, 3 separate games with a single overall continuing story. Only Episode 2 was ever released in Europe, resulting in most people there hating it. Granted Episode 2 was the least good of the 3, but the main issue was that people could not get into or understand the story in 2 without having previously played episode 1.

Stories are linear, there is no getting away from that, they are designed to be enjoyed from the start to the finish. Jumping in half way reminds me of when my son comes into watching an episode of Bones and get's quite annoyed when no one will tell him what happened in the 1st half, and he can't understand the 2nd because of it.

To which I repeat. The potion, if a newbie uses it, changes ALL filler plot (only there for exp. Quests leading to Garuda are the perfect example of this) to become side-quests. You'll still need to follow the linear path the story has you following (and skip cutscenes if you truly don't care about it*), but you'll finish it slightly faster now that you no longer need to deal with filler. The Potion will also force Class/Job quests (of what you're currently playing as) into the MSQ, just in case you haven't done them after using the potion.

For players who are already finished with 3.3, the potion changes nothing. It just boosts a Class you couldn't be bothered levelling up for the cross-class skill (Swiftcast, Provoke, Quelling Strikes, Blood for Blood, etc) to whatever it caps at.

*Include an option for players who do not care about story to automatically skip cutscenes.

Man this topic and tc are completely hilarious.

The level of entitlement with gamers these days never ceases to amaze me.

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Originally Posted by Galand

Man this topic and tc are completely hilarious.

The level of entitlement with gamers these days never ceases to amaze me.

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Great contribution. Got anything else to add from the sidelines?

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Originally Posted by Galand

Man this topic and tc are completely hilarious.

The level of entitlement with gamers these days never ceases to amaze me.

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How even dare you.

How am I hilarious? I cited a reliable source and stated my opinion which wasn't even remotely entitled.

Even though I'm against this ideas, but like it or not it will happens. Why is people suprised by this? You know this will happen eventually since they added the Cash Shop. A look back at the History it look like they are testing the water to see how far they can push it.


What really got on my nerve is that Yoshi yet again lied. He said "No pay to win ever in cash shop." I don't know how much pay to win it can get that instantly boost you to max level, handed you all the raid gear and skip every single quest in the game, not only that but they give you a gils.

I'm getting really tired of the excused "oh WoW did it so we are gonna do it too!" This make me really missed 1.0. Sure it was sloppy and clunky, but now why does every mmorpg have to follow WoW. Sure, it's the biggest P2P Sub game out there right now, but why not do something unique to beat it so WoW people can move over here. Instead of just another WoW clone where people already invest a tons of time in WoW, why would they ever move to FFXIV?

I think this is definitely in the alley of pay 2 win.

I don't see as pay to win. Just getting some levels, not like getting raid gear.

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Originally Posted by Kallera

I think this is definitely in the alley of pay 2 win.

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I don't see how it can be seen as such. Unless it automatically gives you Binding Coil, Alexander Savage and EX Primal gear/weapons/clears, then... what are you winning?

It's 'pay to win' because people would literally be paying real life money to skip large portions of the game and get ahead of those who spent time and effort accomplishing the same thing. Furthermore the current system does an excellent job at keeping old content relevant - which is more than can be said of old content in certain other MMO's. What's next? Allowing people to buy 'optional' NPC's to fight alongside them in a dungeon, thus leading to dungeons to be made even easier to compensate?

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Originally Posted by Nestama

I don't see how it can be seen as such. Unless it automatically gives you Binding Coil, Alexander Savage and EX Primal gear/weapons/clears, then... what are you winning?

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Fron my experience with MMOs (limited primarily to this game and hearsay about XI), The very opportunity to play/clear content is itself a reward for clearing other content. In which case getting as far as assessing Coil and Alexander from day one would be seen as P2W, (Also there is also the fact that Dusk Vigil is tuned to around i110, the very same ilevel as 2nd Coil)

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Originally Posted by Theodric

It's 'pay to win' because people would literally be paying real life money to skip large portions of the game and get ahead of those who spent time and effort accomplishing the same thing. Furthermore the current system does an excellent job at keeping old content relevant - which is more than can be said of old content in certain other MMO's. What's next? Allowing people to buy 'optional' NPC's to fight alongside them in a dungeon, thus leading to dungeons to be made even easier to compensate?

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They are skipping levels, not p2w.if someone joined my party or raid saying they just joined this game and level 60 I wouldkick in a heart beat.No one is going to want a tank with no armor and has no clue how to pull aggro. Same goes with any game that people say it's pay to win. In an FPS most people pay for the best sniper weapon for example. Can't aim what's the point? UNLESS they give people late game armor for this game I don't see it any issue.

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Originally Posted by Morningstar1337

Fron my experience with MMOs (limited primarily to this game and hearsay about XI), The very opportunity to play/clear content is itself a reward for clearing other content. In which case getting as far as assessing Coil and Alexander from day one would be seen as P2W, (Also there is also the fact that Dusk Vigil is tuned to around i110, the very same ilevel as 2nd Coil)

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This is where I find P2W very subjective. My definition has been people being able to use real world money to gain an advantage over others. Skipping the story doesn't mean you'll be able to clear any content without learning how to play your job, thus I don't feel a jump potion is P2W. Now if SE added say, Beast Tribe token bundles to the MogStation so people could skip the Anima grind. That's when you start crossing murky waters imo.

There is a P2W aspect to it though. 2 people start at the same time, one uses potions and one does not. The person who potions gains access to tome gear and rewards faster than the other person. The person who did not use a potion will have a longer wait time until they get to that level. By the time that person reaches tome gathering stage, the other person has already gained a number of items. In this example, someone could make the case that the payment was for tome items since that is what they gained in the end. I am not saying that is my position, only that the statement could be made and have a level of validity to it.

While, using a potion does not give them an advantage over everyone, it does give them a tangible advantage over some people.

If you define Pay to Win as paying for a power increase, it's pay to win. If you (kinda narrowly) define pay to win as "pay to clear or help clear current end tier content" then you have a small amount of wiggle room on it.

If they did this 3-4 years from now I think people would care a lot less.

I don't want them to do this now or 3-4 years from now. Isn't there any way to avoid it?

Can the MSQ for say 2.0, 3.0, 4.0, 5.0 etc.. eventually be unlocked from every other expansion? So if the max level is 100 with various ways of leveling up, you don't have to follow a 2,000 part quest-chain to get access to the latest expansion content. It'd make the game more fun and have the story and rewards waiting for people who want to experience it.

For people that say it's not Pay to Win, don't forgot that using the potion you also get 300k, chocobo feather, and complete i70 gears to start. Meaning you can jump right in the game. For people who can't offord or pay for the potion, they are at a disadvantage. Person with paying for the potion will always be ahead of the game.

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Originally Posted by Bloodb

I don't want them to do this now or 3-4 years from now. Isn't there any way to avoid it?

Can the MSQ for say 2.0, 3.0, 4.0, 5.0 etc.. eventually be unlocked from every other expansion? So if the max level is 100 with various ways of leveling up, you don't have to follow a 2,000 part quest-chain to get access to the latest expansion content. It'd make the game more fun and have the story and rewards waiting for people who want to experience it.

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Sure. Nothing says they have to do it. We're only talking about it because Yoshi mentioned it in passing. Which he does to a lot of things that never happen. They're already streamlining the MSQ and 4.0 won't have the same gates that 3.0 did.

FF14 is not WOW. The casual content is much harder and confusing for any new player. If you let players hit lvl X for the price they paid, they would complain until the end of days asking for content to be nerfed for them. FF14 is one of the only few remaining games that provide a proper challenge for the casual community.

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Originally Posted by Reaperking386

FF14 is not WOW. The casual content is much harder and confusing for any new player. If you let players hit lvl X for the price they paid, they would complain until the end of days asking for content to be nerfed for them. FF14 is one of the only few remaining games that provide a proper challenge for the casual community.

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I don't buy this argument. You can reach cap now without knowing how to play your class at all and allowing your gear to do the work for you. I don't like the potion to increase level thing, but this wouldn't create a new problem that we don't already have.

There are two sides to the argument.

1. When we get to expansions like 5.0, 6.0, or 7.0. Lets say we are at FFXIV 7.0. The first time player who wants to catch up to their friends have, but even if you are skipping CS's, there would be a ton and a ton of content to catch up. It is already quite a trip to catch up from 2.0 to 3.3. Imagine how much you would have to do to catch up, it could be pretty insane.

2. On the other hand, FFXIV is a story driven game, and giving you instant access to areas that you couldn't at your level or progress in the story is a messy thing to program and can be damaging trying to maintain it in the long run.

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Unless SE can come up with something clever, I believe the best route to take is no pay to level feature. Instead, make it so you can get 1-50 from doing only MSQ's alone. Same from 50-60 in 3.0, then 60-70 in 4.0, and so on. Not having to do side quests takes a large chunk of time off. They have already practiced this some for ARR content.

The difference with WoW, despite having a lot of background lore, is not entirely a story driven game. Giving someone access to get to the content their friends are at makes more sense for how that game is structured. In FFXIV's case, I believe it would just be a big mess.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Reaperking386

FF14 is not WOW. The casual content is much harder and confusing for any new player. If you let players hit lvl X for the price they paid, they would complain until the end of days asking for content to be nerfed for them. FF14 is one of the only few remaining games that provide a proper challenge for the casual community.

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Proper challenge? Like what? If we are going WoW vs. FFXIV, WoW (or at least they use to) has challenging casual content that doesn't completely hold your hand like 95% of FFXIV's content does. SE made Weeping City slightly harder than Void Ark (which was dumb easy) and then people came to complain it was too hard.

I'll just say this: enabling players to straight out skip levels is the start of a very bad path. Nothing the devs have said earlier have actually frightened me, but this does. I really do not like this direction they're considering.