New player(s) thoughts

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Originally Posted by Jojoya

What was said in those good reviews that attracted you and your friends to the game? A well-written review wouldn't have skipped mentioning that the game is heavily story quest based.

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A very large amount of MMO/WoW content creators were toting a much better endgame and MMO experience with gearing and raids, which is exactly what WoW players crave. They typically hype up the story but avoid talking about how it progresses and the extremely dated solo questing systems.

I'm not saying this is this new player's experience with the adverts and content creators - But you don't have to dig too deep to find the exodus hype for better pasture. I think Preach is part to blame to be honest.

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Originally Posted by SassyAssassin

Its not your type of game and that’s ok, it wasn’t made to please everybody as nothing ever is in life.

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And that's okay! In fact, I think it may be better for Square Enix to keep things the same for as long as possible. 7.0, 8.0, and so on. Many people love and cherish how this game operates. Unfortunately, the pool of fellow players will shrink over time as the mandatory story grows longer. Friends will leave, new players will stop coming, and communities will be gutted. The game was designed for a server population half the size that we have now, so many current players will enjoy the breathing room. And everyone else can pick up a better game that's not FFXIV, because let's face it, this game is kind of a let-down. Win-win?

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Originally Posted by caffe_macchiato

And that's okay! In fact, I think it may be better for Square Enix to keep things the same for as long as possible. 7.0, 8.0, and so on. Many people love and cherish how this game operates. Unfortunately, the pool of fellow players will shrink over time as the mandatory story grows longer. Friends will leave, new players will stop coming, and communities will be gutted. The game was designed for a server population half the size that we have now, so many current players will enjoy the breathing room. And everyone else can pick up a better game that's not FFXIV, because let's face it, this game is kind of a let-down. Win-win?

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Someone dropped their fortune tellers on the forums again please come mop them up.

In all seriousness, Final Fantasy games are story driven. That won’t ever kill the game, it will just keep a different playerbase than the one you want.......and thats ok :). And please go pick up a better game instead of just giving us hope that you will.

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Originally Posted by Avoidy

Imagine joining an MMO and you can't talk, can't trade, can't even start up a party. What a great experience.

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If this happened to me when I was actually buying a paid product with a paid subscription, I'd be mad. But if it's while I'm playing a FREE TRIAL? Not in the least. I expect practically nothing out of a free trial except the chance to start getting a feel for something and decide if I might want to try dropping an opening deposit on it. That FFXIV lets you go all the way through 2 full cycles of content (ARR and HW) in a story-based game for free is frankly amazing.

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Originally Posted by SassyAssassin

Someone dropped their fortune tellers on the forums again please come mop them up.

In all seriousness, Final Fantasy games are story driven. That won’t ever kill the game, it will just keep a different playerbase than the one you want.......and thats ok :). And please go pick up a better game instead of just giving us hope that you will.

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Don't get too smug about the playerbase we've retained all these years, it's not the MSQ that keeps the players around and subbed for 2 years each expac cycle. When we have nothing to do and can no longer feed off of the bright eyed young, we'll just eat ourselves.

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Originally Posted by R041

I know, but I have serious copium because every single friend I've invited to play FF has quit even trying to get to Heavensward. I'm going to start just handing out Story-Skips and watching an MSQ series because it's out of control. Then all of these content creators keep praising this insanely long MSQ and promoting the MMO I've loved for so long as a single-player game. I'm beyond salty, sorry. :(

Even trying to build an FC is difficult unless you're inviting everyone and you're absolutely massive to catch the 5% of players that stay. If anyone's ever tried to create an FC and you get a ton of sprouts in your FC, you start to see them all log off after a few weeks and never come back. It's heart breaking, and I try my best to make it a good experience, but I can only do so much - It's going to evolve into me just handing out story skips to people that stay in the FC longer than a few weeks.

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understandable, very much so.
I'd even understand if they buy a skip and just watch the cutscenes in the inn.

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Originally Posted by R041

Don't get too smug about the playerbase we've retained all these years, it's not the MSQ that keeps the players around and subbed for 2 years each expac cycle. When we have nothing to do and can no longer feed off of the bright eyed young, we'll just eat ourselves.

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Such goes with every mmo. Most people play for two or more years and then move on, come back or not, new players sub when their current mmo lacks content for a while, then they go back as well etc etc, people will keep recycling as long as new content keeps dropping, and they said they’re not letting the game end anytime soon. Unless they mess up completely there will always be those that have interest in story driven mmorpgs and ffxiv can provide a very long story.

Thought this game was an MMORPG? RPG part is the game is driven by it's story plot, with the technical stuff such as experience, loot, skills and combat that which follows the regular mmo genre. So why the surprise of the main story quests to advance the game?

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Originally Posted by R041

A very large amount of MMO/WoW content creators were toting a much better endgame and MMO experience with gearing and raids, which is exactly what WoW players crave. They typically hype up the story but avoid talking about how it progresses and the extremely dated solo questing systems.

I'm not saying this is this new player's experience with the adverts and content creators - But you don't have to dig too deep to find the exodus hype for better pasture. I think Preach is part to blame to be honest.

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Blizzard is to blame. They gave players a warped idea of what a MMO is and so there's puzzlement when someone used to playing WoW goes to another MMO to find it works very differently because MMOs are more than just raiding and dungeon grinds.

Still, if you're going to a content creator for information you need to pay attention to what information they're sharing. You're usually getting a brief snapshot of a piece of a game instead of an overall review of the whole. As much as I enjoy crafting, you're not going to get me to play another game simply because a content creator says it has a great crafting system. You need to tell me about the rest of the game as well.

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Originally Posted by caffe_macchiato

Unfortunately, the pool of fellow players will shrink over time as the mandatory story grows longer.

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We already know that SE is preparing to shrink the "mandatory" game. That's why the Hydaelyn-Zodiark story was wrapped up in 6.0 instead of 7.0 as originally planned. They wanted to create a new starting point for players new to the game so they weren't staring down hundreds of hours of MSQ to catch up with friends.

Likely the new starting point will be 6.1, with a slightly longer starting sequence than sitting down with Tataru for tea for newly made characters. Expect whatever their plan is to be announced at the FanFests next year.

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Originally Posted by Jojoya

Likely the new starting point will be 6.1, with a slightly longer starting sequence than sitting down with Tataru for tea for newly made characters.

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This scene is going to be so sad later on in 7.0 when Tataru decides to summon a primal and we have to put her down.

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Originally Posted by PirateRyanG

This scene is going to be so sad later on in 7.0 when Tataru decides to summon a primal and we have to put her down.

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donchu mean when tataru turns out to be a primal of mercantile summon by Rowena and her legion of merchants and minions

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Originally Posted by R041

A very large amount of MMO/WoW content creators were toting a much better endgame and MMO experience with gearing and raids, which is exactly what WoW players crave. They typically hype up the story but avoid talking about how it progresses and the extremely dated solo questing systems.

I'm not saying this is this new player's experience with the adverts and content creators - But you don't have to dig too deep to find the exodus hype for better pasture. I think Preach is part to blame to be honest.

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Preach seems to understand this game isn't WoW, at least. I've seen so many people come to this game expecting a replacement for WoW and then complain that the game is not more like WoW. This isn't World of Warcraft, it's Final Fantasy XIV. It's a game in a series known for its epic storylines.

Not all games are for everyone. If looking for some free MMOs to try you should look into City of Heroes Homecoming. It's quite the blast and having a duo with you will make things very enjoyable for you. I also think Dragon's Dogma Online got an online revival so it's a private server in works. I'm not sure if it 100% done or not but you can look it up online. Also WoW private servers are fun. You can get some that stop at certain Expansions...my personal favorite was WotLK so might look into that one.

Good luck to you and your friend.

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Originally Posted by Buki_jo

So, me and some friends decided to start playing this game together after reading good reviews online. But quit after a day of quests, quests, quests, quests. There has got to be a way to streamline these quests to where you can get a good story, but at the same time not grinding endless quests that 99% of people skip the dialog anyway.

Also, the free trial is a joke. it's almost as if SE wants to punish people for playing the free trail and not paying. You can't even invite people to parties. I had to pay a sub just so we could group together. The entire new player experience in this aspect has to be relooked at. (heck if i didn't pay the sub i couldn't even communicate my new player thoughts to SE about this topic on the forums)

Maybe this game just isn't our style of gaming and I'm willing to accept that, just wanted to put in my 2 cents.

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I notice a lot of people are saying maybe it's just not for you, and thats.... horrible to suggest. The story for me is the weakest reason to play..... And I've been playing 11 years. I skip all of it.
It's totally "not" 90% of the game. Not even close.

If it was me personally just starting?

I'd buy the story skip on mog station all the way through. Along with at least 1 80 char. (Just so you can go unlock whatever you want when you want, for your lower level classes, or jump straight into being a Ninja, instead of waiting to hit 30, etc etc)
"Then" start playing. Back at level 1 on something. As if it never happened, and the story never existed. This will make it 100% sandbox mode however, so note that the story grants tons of XP. However, you can fate & dungeon grind almost as fast so its not a big deal, and ideally, you get to pick what you wanna do instead of being forced to do a or b in story mode.

There "is" a newgame + mode "just" to replay the story, so you're not 100% SOL if you decide it was a bad idea later on. You can pick which chapters to do in them as well. And quit/resume anytime


I am also one of those story skippers. I really dislike it's presentation in XIV overall. (But loved FFX XV stories etc)
I'm all for story but the A to B method for stories isn't for me. The story is "supposed" to be awesome but I will not entertain a story with so much filler and A to B stuff in it, no matter how good it is.
There "IS" tons for you to do for years though, even if you buy the story skip, TRUST ME (See join date)


You can do things as you level from 1 after buying the skip.... Like going to Shiva Extreme and "not" making the duty uncapped. Do things legit with level caps etc. Most people are on the fence if they dislike the story presentation until the Extreme trial fights. From there on it's like 1000 things to discover. If you do that then I also highly suggest at 70, you go to Bozja. It's the currently seen as the most fun thing to do from a new player stand point. Dont get me started on Palace of the dead coop or Housing, heck, housing activities alone can run you with things to do for months. Super in depth. The new private island sanctuary, another few weeks, but it just came out, so sure to have more to do later.

If you dislike story that much in XIV like me, or its presentation rather, that's what I would be doing, its hella fun.

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Originally Posted by UnrealTai

I notice a lot of people are saying maybe it's just not for you, and thats.... horrible to suggest. The story for me is the weakest reason to play..... And I've been playing 11 years. I skip all of it.
It's totally "not" 90% of the game. Not even close.

snip

I am also one of those story skippers. I really dislike it's presentation in XIV overall. (But loved FFX XV stories etc)
I'm all for story but the A to B method for stories isn't for me. The story is "supposed" to be awesome but I will not entertain a story with so much filler and A to B stuff in it, no matter how good it is.
There "IS" tons for you to do for years though, even if you buy the story skip, TRUST ME (See join date)


You can do things as you level from 1 after buying the skip.... Like going to Shiva Extreme and "not" making the duty uncapped. Do things legit with level caps etc. Most people are on the fence if they dislike the story presentation until the Extreme trial fights. From there on it's like 1000 things to discover. If you do that then I also highly suggest at 70, you go to Bozja. It's the currently seen as the most fun thing to do from a new player stand point. Dont get me started on Palace of the dead coop or Housing, heck, housing activities alone can run you with things to do for months. Super in depth. The new private island sanctuary, another few weeks, but it just came out, so sure to have more to do later.

If you dislike story that much in XIV like me, or its presentation rather, that's what I would be doing, its hella fun.

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As you say there's a lot to do in this game, the first reflex (ideally) shouldn't be to say "this game may not be for you". Interestingly, I detest many of the things that you state "the most fun thing new players like", i have never levelled any alt in Bozja and never understood anyone who preferred to level there- but as you say some people do, similarly I'm not a fan of POTD however there are people who are justifiably proud of their achievements , as well as people who enjoy levelling and the rewards from there.

Not to mention the people who really invest into crafting or fishing or many other activities.

I'm sure it's said before..,
but in the streamlining of the ARR quests.., So Much was lost..,
and I absolutely hate it..,
Absolutely..,<would not care if that makes me an enemy of any order if it does>
When quests or whole sections of story are lost for streamlining to rush people to endgame is literally assassination of the world. course it varies..,<with BnS, there really is no story at all in the beginning zones anymore>

Like with the Primal Quests, where you no long have to figure out what Character model is the Real Character Model. I hate that it acts like you didn't partake in that.
<and while yes I understand some people like that they seem to have a life of your own.., it's BS when you already partook in that before the changes. -Make that for later Content, and Expansions in the future. Not alter the past.->

But yes, there are ways to Whittle down the length without losing any of the storys substance. And I miss my interactions with Mil- I mean F'lhaminn.., (though I agreed that zones dragging of content history.., does grate.., but that's just me against the CoH's Growth in Complacency.)

as for how free trial is limited..,
What else could be expected..,?
it's a Trial that costs no money except your time.

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Originally Posted by UnrealTai

I notice a lot of people are saying maybe it's just not for you, and that's horrible to suggest.

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I agree with most of your post, as I've always said that fans do ff14 a disservice just focusing on the story... because the underlying game can be pretty cool, just sayin'
I however think that suggesting new players to PAY for skips is pretty brutal, tbh. Those things are not cheap.

I'm a proponent of things being locked by level, not by MSQ progress. Open those activities up earlier. visit that town, get those tomestones, buy that gear.

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Originally Posted by UnrealTai

I notice a lot of people are saying maybe it's just not for you, and thats.... horrible to suggest.

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I said it because it's true. I hate Madden games but loved Blitz. I'm not a fan of sports games.

Same thing here. Might not like FFXIV but might like Wow. Or Vice Versa. Or maybe an MMO is just the wrong way and just want more cooperative gaming like Division, Diablo, Left 4 Dead, Halo, Divinity: Original Sin, etc...

I started playing the game a few months ago and have gotten almost to the end of Stormblood. The thought of playing an MMO never sounded appealing to me, but I gave it a try because I've always enjoyed JRPGs and I heard a lot of good things that made it worth a try. Although I'm completely addicted to the game at this point, the new player experience could continue to use work.

1) I had to learn some really basic combat knowledge by finding resources OUTSIDE of the game. I get that this is a collaborative/online game, which lends itself to building communities and resources, but it's really no surprise that you see some folks play like they have no idea what to do. It's absolutely absurd that you need to head online to understand the fundamentals. Especially for what's supposed to be a casual friendly MMO game. Hall of the Novice is literally right there, it just needs to be revamped and be far more comprehensive.

2) The slog is real in ARR. I only stuck through it because I read that it would get better. I disagree with people in this thread saying that Square has already done plenty to compress ARR, so any frustrations new players have mean the game is not for them. I would have really missed out if I didn't stick through it. So would the 2 non-MMO gamers I pulled in since then. We're having a blast. I'm glad Square recognized the issue but they could do more. The MSQ pre-Mor Dhona felt like an absurdly long prologue. You can destroy half of it and it would be a net positive. It's aged poorly. Or convert what's salvageable into yellow side quests, so the people obsessed with lore building/world building still have a huge amount of content to work through at their leisure. I can't even pretend to remember the generic NPC #405 from Gyr Abania's story that seems to recognize me from when I helped him get medicine for something in Gridinia. It doesn't add richness to the experience

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Originally Posted by UnrealTai

I notice a lot of people are saying maybe it's just not for you, and thats.... horrible to suggest. The story for me is the weakest reason to play..... And I've been playing 11 years. I skip all of it.
It's totally "not" 90% of the game. Not even close.

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I've also been subbed non-stop for roughly 11 years, (Don't believe these join dates) and if you want to tell me that we've stay subbed because ARR, Heavensward, and Stormblood had a good MSQ then you'd be out of your mind insane. It's good set piece, and mostly because it pulls from old titles.

A LOT of vets skip story, or only watch voiced scenes. We've never been particularly proud of the MSQ process, the pieces and lore definitely. Most people won't even mention that there's a MASSIVE amount of other FF content in here, not just FFXIV - This game is BORN out of old FF content. We have a ton of bosses and content pulled from all over the numbered series, and even NIER! It's a frankenstein monster and that's why I love it. It lets you appreciate the older games in a new light.

These people may fool new players, but they don't fool us - This wasn't always about MSQ, and we NEVER called it an 'RPGMMO', that's a new term you all made up and new players ran with after Shadowbringers, and I'm pretty sure it was Jesse Cox that flipped it. I don't condone it's use.

I refuse to believe the "But ARR is good because it shows humble beginnings" - It's fetch heaven and only the city state intros are half interesting. Most FF titles don't even back this theme up, because almost all of them shoot you straight into the mix 10 minutes in with 50 hours of intensity. MSQ enthusiasts also often forget about 1.0, are you gonna tell new players to go back and play that too because it has critical story? No, because it can be summed up in 5 minutes. (You CAN go play it)

ARR - Not good
Heavensward - Only Post MSQ was good.
Stormblood - Only Post MSQ was good.
Shadowbringers - Generally good
Endwalker MSQ - Half good

Just because everyone loves Shadowbringers, doesn't automatically make the whole series of ARR-Endwalker fetch quests good storytelling, and it definitely isn't good gameplay.

We play this MMO because it's an MMO of FF, as we ALWAYS have. Not because it's a visual novel. I have a house, I craft, trade, gather, achievement hunt, and I LOVE all Trials and Raids. I do NOT sit and rewatch MSQ over and over like some people claim to do, and I don't sit in Limsa.

This is a new wave of stupid since the release of Shadowbringers, saying the MMO is bad and Visual Novel good. It's so strange to me, and I just want the MMO expanded on. I'm tired of everyone advocating for something we haven't really cared about for so long, and then just accepting that our MMO portion is dying, and for some reason celebrate it.

Yoshi wants to keep our sub, I doubt he'd be cool with everyone only subbing once every 2 years for our MSQ catchup.

The free trial is actually one of the few AMAZING bright spots for XIV, imo. I think they did a good jo with it.

As for XIV.....It is a boring mmo for the most part. Sub-par combat system, terrible job system, uninteresting quest.

HOWEVER, I am a FF fan, so I play it from time to time.

Megaman X5 is terrible, but I play it every other month it seems.......Why? because I am a Mega Man X fan lol......

Sonic 06 is awful....but every Sonic fan plays it......Why? You guessed it....

Eventually, the "Good reviews" and fad of XIV will wear off and like WoW, casual people will start to see it for what it really is and leave (if they already are not). Then, the devs will need to really use some resources to improve the game, or move on......

XVI seems like more of the same.......XVII will be the one, imo.......just my opinion.......

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Originally Posted by R041

These people may fool new players, but they don't fool us - This wasn't always about MSQ, and we NEVER called it an 'RPGMMO', that's a new term you all made up and new players ran with after Shadowbringers, and I'm pretty sure it was Jesse Cox that flipped it. I don't condone it's use.

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This is a new conspiracy theory about Jesse Cox that made me spew my coffee out. No sorry Jesse Cox didn't cook this whole thing up. MMORPG's have been around since it's conception in 1996. One of the first of this genre, was a game called "Meridian 59".

Some examples of an MMORPG are: Anarchy Online, Black Desert Online, EverQuest, Final Fantasy XIV, Guild Wars, Rift, Runescape, Ultima Online, and World of Warcraft etc...

MMO can be anything from a Battle Royale action title, FPS, a real-time strategy game, or even a new type of interactive experience that defies genres.

And who is this " THESE PEOPLE and WE and US? Your opinion is your opinion and people have different opinions on what they find enjoyable in FFxiv.

It doesn't bother me in the least that people skip story or not, as long as they can play their job. That to me is what ARR is mostly there for. To teach the new player. Though I don't like the fetch quest reaching into the later expansions, but that's just me, and I agree to it being filler. I think maybe what the devs are trying to do is put you into the next area of a certain zone for story progression. I think there is a better way of doing that part of it too.

Overall people have their favorite msq expansions and their least favorites. Then some could care less about the msq all together, that just how it is and will be. Yes one day XIV will die down, but I don't think we fully know what the root cause will be just yet. Only guesses of what it could be.

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Originally Posted by Arazehl

This is a new conspiracy theory about Jesse Cox that made me spew my coffee out. No sorry Jesse Cox didn't cook this whole thing up. MMORPG's have been around since it's conception in 1996. One of the first of this genre, was a game called "Meridian 59".

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What? No - Do you live under a rock? That's not what I was saying, maybe you misunderstand this whole thing, and hopefully you've ignored it all the past 2 years. I'd be happy that you did, because it's exhausting. lol

'RPGMMO' vs 'MMORPG' - It's the new fad to call FFXIV an 'RPGMMO' and ignore the MMO portion while strictly focusing on the MSQ. "No content? You did MSQ right? Yoshi said you can unsub and come back later." He's made videos and tweeted about this, it's sparked the whole thing.

https://twitter.com/jessecox/status/1331490039239376903

I almost find it insulting that you actually thought I didn't know what an 'MMORPG' was while saying I've been subbed to one for 11 years. To the point where you tried to educate me, mostly just hilarious though. lol

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Originally Posted by R041

What? No - Do you live under a rock? That's not what I was saying, maybe you misunderstand this whole thing, and hopefully you've ignored it all the past 2 years. I'd be happy that you did, because it's exhausting. lol

'RPGMMO' vs 'MMORPG' - It's the new fad to call FFXIV an 'RPGMMO' and ignore the MMO portion while strictly focusing on the MSQ. "No content? You did MSQ right? Yoshi said you can unsub and come back later." He's made videos and tweeted about this, it's sparked the whole thing.

https://twitter.com/jessecox/status/1331490039239376903

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Ah I see. Yes I was a bit confused. Never heard of RPGMMO. Is it like saying it's an RPG first before an MMO? That is very confusing in fact. Thanks for the clarification. I'll go read up on Twitter now.

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Originally Posted by Arazehl

Ah I see. Yes I was a bit confused. Never heard of RPGMMO. Is it like saying it's an RPG first before an MMO? That is very confusing in fact. Thanks for the clarification. I'll go watch the stream now.

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Okay phew. Yeah, I'm just saying it's a weird fad to put FFXIV in this new corner of MMO's called 'RPGMMO' - It's weird, and it really just discourages players from even playing the MMO portion of it. Sorry if I sounded rude. You good. lol

Restrictions should be the least of your worries when you get the base game and its first expansion beginning to end free.

OP, not sure if you have played other free trials in other games, but the entire point is to make so you want the improved experience of purchase. FFxiv is fairly benign, and most of its restrictions are meant to combat RMT

I have seen where you get notified from every quest what you COULD have received in terms of experience, money or items. limited quest availability in others. constant pressure to buy buy buy...

overall, FFxiv is pretty easy with their trial. you can talk, just in say, cant send tells. someone that you know needs to subbed to form groups. perfect? nope, not at all, but can thank the RMT people usually for restrictions on free trials...
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Originally Posted by TMW001

Restrictions should be the least of your worries when you get the base game and its first expansion beginning to end free.

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To be fair Ive tried the trial before when I was waiting on my account recovery and its definitely heavy enough to turn away new players.
The idea is to play with friends and you cant even send tells or pt invites.
Kills RMT sure, but also bad experience with the trial

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Originally Posted by R041

I don't condone it's use.

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yeah, okay, sure.

It's not really an RPGMMO. It's just that it's an actual MMORPG instead of just an MMO.

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Originally Posted by Jeeqbit

It's not really an RPGMMO. It's just that it's an actual MMORPG instead of just an MMO.

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Exactly, the rpg part is very important here, if ffxiv had no story Id probably not even bother playing, as I said different play-styles for different people, we don’t need to turn everything into pleasing the whole world nor is that possible. There are many options out there, if something doesn’t make us happy we move on towards what does.

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Originally Posted by UnrealTai

To be fair Ive tried the trial before when I was waiting on my account recovery and its definitely heavy enough to turn away new players.
The idea is to play with friends and you cant even send tells or pt invites.
Kills RMT sure, but also bad experience with the trial

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It's still quite generous though by allowing you to play through ARR and HW, especially since this game requires a subscription to play. Other MMORPGs with subscriptions are far more limited.

Majority of the MMORPGs out there are free but greatly inconvenience you so you'll to pay large sums of money to have a more enjoyable time.

I like the story myself but I will agree with u that free trial players should be able to start parties, your reason is a pretty good example of why free trial players should be able to form parties.

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Originally Posted by Espon

It's still quite generous though by allowing you to play through ARR and HW, especially since this game requires a subscription to play. Other MMORPGs with subscriptions are far more limited.

Majority of the MMORPGs out there are free but greatly inconvenience you so you'll to pay large sums of money to have a more enjoyable time.

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The amount of content it gives you is fine. It is generous in that aspect.
The fact that it basically forces a single player experience until upgrading isn't fine though. The game is an MMO, you should be able to play with your friends and be in a party with them regardless of having a sub or not. I fail to see any logical reason why preventing that is necessary.

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Originally Posted by Buki_jo

So, me and some friends decided to start playing this game together after reading good reviews online. But quit after a day of quests, quests, quests, quests. There has got to be a way to streamline these quests to where you can get a good story, but at the same time not grinding endless quests that 99% of people skip the dialog anyway.

Also, the free trial is a joke. it's almost as if SE wants to punish people for playing the free trail and not paying. You can't even invite people to parties. I had to pay a sub just so we could group together. The entire new player experience in this aspect has to be relooked at. (heck if i didn't pay the sub i couldn't even communicate my new player thoughts to SE about this topic on the forums)

Maybe this game just isn't our style of gaming and I'm willing to accept that, just wanted to put in my 2 cents.

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imho: Don't do side quests, unless you wanna know lore of the area, don't bother with them.

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Originally Posted by LianaThorne

The amount of content it gives you is fine. It is generous in that aspect.
The fact that it basically forces a single player experience until upgrading isn't fine though. The game is an MMO, you should be able to play with your friends and be in a party with them regardless of having a sub or not. I fail to see any logical reason why preventing that is necessary.

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I can agree with you on that.

The beginning of ff14 is just bad vibes for new players without friends. You're thrown into the existing of nowhere, where nobody really writes, you don't really understand anything, the quests are 90% reading and 10% doing some stupidly easy task while your rotation is 1,2 with 3 gcds that are all worthless while leveling. There is 20 npcs that have 20 different currencies for 20 different rewards, you open the map, the whole map blinks, try to navigate the map but you don't even know where you are anymore or where your main quest is. Finally get accustom to the first city, it's send you to two others so you get more lost. Try to find a guild it refers you like 1999 to a website.

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Originally Posted by drtasteyummy

The beginning of ff14 is just bad vibes for new players without friends. You're thrown into the existing of nowhere, where nobody really writes, you don't really understand anything, the quests are 90% reading and 10% doing some stupidly easy task while your rotation is 1,2 with 3 gcds that are all worthless while leveling. There is 20 npcs that have 20 different currencies for 20 different rewards, you open the map, the whole map blinks, try to navigate the map but you don't even know where you are anymore or where your main quest is. Finally get accustom to the first city, it's send you to two others so you get more lost. Try to find a guild it refers you like 1999 to a website.

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The reading part is fine because a lot of people like myself love following the story in a game. It's unfortunate for the many people who don't enjoy story and find it boring, but it is a story-driven game.

It would be good for it all to be voiced and to not put ", you say?" always as if I mumbled something to them, because reading instead of listening can get exhausting, but it's hard to go back on that now when the voice actors changed.

The rotation may be easy but a lot of people actually struggle to press those 2 buttons while avoiding red circles, especially with the default controls (not legacy) and sub-optimal HUD layouts that place important components in different parts of the screen instead of all in one place. It allows them to ease into the game first. To those of us who have played for a long time or are used to similar games it may be easy but it's not for everyone and this is clear to me from watching youtube videos and streams.

The map system is confusing at first. For example, in Ul'dah quests often look like they are at the Pugilists guild but when you zoom in enough it's trying to tell you to go a different route to get to the other half of Ul'dah. But you get used to it and there are other things to draw you in such as the music and the areas.

The 20 different currencies don't really come into it until level 50 onwards and you can just focus on gil at first. The game is strangely reliant on websites for random things as if it's 1999 though, I agree.

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Originally Posted by Jeeqbit

The reading part is fine because a lot of people like myself love following the story in a game. It's unfortunate for the many people who don't enjoy story and find it boring, but it is a story-driven game.

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Story driven doesn't mean you have to permanently read dialog all the time it's solely means it sets its focus on delivering it, how, is up to the person. The issue exists because the presentation is bad. You're never allowed to relax but you're also never allowed to really do something. (Exluding the dungeons and trials which I think are very good).

A lot of people forgot over the time HOW MUCH "go from A to" B particularly ARR is. Sure it gets better later - sometimes at least - but that's not where most starters are.


Think about Detroit or Heavy rain presentation and now think about how Final Fantasy does compared to that also if you ever stop skimming through the dialog you'll notice how much garbage the characters say just to extend the gameplay length.

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Originally Posted by Jeeqbit

It would be good for it all to be voiced and to not put ", you say?" always as if I mumbled something to them, because reading instead of listening can get exhausting, but it's hard to go back on that now when the voice actors changed.

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Would be at least something. Writing some semi good text and call it a day is just so lazy.

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Originally Posted by Jeeqbit

The rotation may be easy but a lot of people actually struggle to press those 2 buttons while avoiding red circles, especially with the default controls (not legacy) and sub-optimal HUD layouts that place important components in different parts of the screen instead of all in one place. It allows them to ease into the game first. To those of us who have played for a long time or are used to similar games it may be easy but it's not for everyone and this is clear to me from watching youtube videos and streams.

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You make it sound as like in the beginning any skill really kills you like later also we speak about the first 50 level here, that's way too much man people don't need 20 hours to figure out how 2 abilities and run out of the circle works.

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Originally Posted by Jeeqbit

The map system is confusing at first. For example, in Ul'dah quests often look like they are at the Pugilists guild but when you zoom in enough it's trying to tell you to go a different route to get to the other half of Ul'dah. But you get used to it and there are other things to draw you in such as the music and the areas.

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Saying shit is garbage but you'll get used to it is really not a good design philosophy for any game.

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Originally Posted by drtasteyummy

Saying shit is garbage but you'll get used to it is really not a good design philosophy for any game.

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Oh, it's not, but my point is that yes, the map system should be better. The reason they didn't change it though is because once you get used to it, it becomes a minor issue and developers focus on major issues. One thing I've always noticed is all of the biggest issues I have in this game are minor issues.