Possible level/story jumps....really?

If they were to introduce a level boosting option, I think it most definitely should not be to get to max level or close max level. And it most certainly should not be introduced so early. We aren't even on our second expansion yet. WoW didn't even introduce theirs until after how many expansions? If anything, increase the amount of experience you get during low levels so people still get that low level experience, but leveling gets sped up significantly (but I don't suggest this for a long while yet).

If people are so concerned about it taking so long to do the story to get to other content, even though it pains me to say it.... Somehow make it so people can skip the story it it's not something they are interested in? I love the story so much, but my mother is one of those people who's not interested in the story and thinks it's an annoyance... So I totally understand where people are coming from.

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Originally Posted by LadyKairi

If people are so concerned about it taking so long to do the story to get to other content, even though it pains me to say it.... Somehow make it so people can skip the story it it's not something they are interested in? I love the story so much, but my mother is one of those people who's not interested in the story and thinks it's an annoyance... So I totally understand where people are coming from.

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Unfortunately, this is why (I think) they're wanting to implement this potion thing: a lot of potential subscribers will avoid the game due to how boring and long the story is (for them: I know some people like it) and simply quit the game and go play something else. The same happened with my sister who, as soon as I heard about this, I went to tell her the news and she literally said the "eff word" to the game and didn't even bother to play again. And she actually followed it, but just found it overly boring.

But yes a lot of people, as soon as I tell them about how the expansion is locked, they simply laugh and say "forget it", but let's face it: FFXIV needs subscribers, needs more players and being niche doesn't give you enough (one of the reasons why Wildstar failed and why the 1.0 archaic system was botched), and this is why there's a lot of controversy right now: fans want the story to be kept, while non-fans simply want it to be optional so that them and their friends can play together without being bothered.

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.

The linear storyline is, unfortunately, not a great model for a MMO.

Think of it like a TV series - let's go with Game of Thrones. You've started to hear about this show. Your friends are into it. You'd like to start watching with them. Problem is, the show's in its sixth season. That's a lot to get caught up on! Given your busy schedule, you'll be lucky if you get current before the series ends in a couple years. So, instead, you read a few summaries, get caught up on the plot, and you're good to go. Maybe not the optimal Game of Thrones experience, but you're satisfied.

FFXIV doesn't offer that luxury. If you want to play with your friends, you've gotta watch every episode. I can certainly understand why that would be frustrating for a lot of people - and why it would turn a lot of people off of the game entirely.

It is better for a MMO to have independent storylines introduced with each expansion, rather than have each expansion continue a single, central storyline. Players should be free to pick and choose what order to complete these storylines in, and even the freedom to ignore some of the storylines entirely if they're simply not interested.

And if the decision is made to have a single storyline that continues from expansion to expansion... then yes, I'm sorry, but SOME method is going to need to be introduced to allow new players to just get a summary of what has come before. It's a bitter pill to swallow, and I don't like it myself, but an MMO NEEDS the lifeblood that new players provide. It's a pretty niche portion of new players that will be willing to tolerate six expansions worth of Main Scenario quests just to start participating in the latest content. If too many potential new players are turned off by the sheer amount of story they need to get through, it's going to drive the game into an early grave.

None of what I've said has anything to do with level boosting potions, however. That, I think, is totally unnecessary, and possibly even harmful. The time it takes to level a job is ridiculously short, and it's better for players to learn their abilities a few at a time, rather than have them all dumped into their laps at once.

I really hope that the story isn't going to become scattered now if they do decide to stop the continuity. This is why I like enjoy XIV because its not like every other MMO. People always say they want a different MMO but when is actually different people just cry and whine, so much logic there! I don't even care about the story skips anymore as long as they keep the story continuous where it needs to be. If people need to skip the story/cutscenes press that little esc button all day long until they put a story skip on the mog station. And yes I hope it cost real money so people have to buy it, if they want to skip things so badly.

The dev team has already talked about how locking so much behind the story wasn't such a good idea and have taken that into account for the next expansion, why are people still complaining? Im all for classes/jobs and zones to be opened from the start and I think it would be better for the game if they were.

I will not nor will I ever agree with a level skip potion because there is no need for one in this game.

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Originally Posted by Snugglebutt

No one has, which is why no one has any evidence to the contrary. Anyone who says otherwise is in my opinion a liar using a fallacy to add fictional weight to their position of which none have proof to back it up. None of them have even bothered trying to photoshop some fake proof because they know people will figure it out. The gating was not done for the sole purpose of stopping RMT infesting HW zones but it doing so has been a blessing I am not willing to give up without one hell of a fight.

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^^^^^^^^^^^
This, so much this.

When we started HW, I figured this would be a deterrent to RMT botting in HW areas, because the investment in time and effort to get RMT bots to HW locations is quite high. As you say, it is effectively gated behind a lot of content which isn't easily navigated by a bot of any kind. Removing that gate or giving a potion that RMTs can exploit to jump the gate would be a terrible addition to the game from the point of view of RMT deterrence.

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Originally Posted by LineageRazor

The linear storyline is, unfortunately, not a great model for a MMO.

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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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Originally Posted by Voltyblast

Unfortunately, this is why (I think) they're wanting to implement this potion thing: a lot of potential subscribers will avoid the game due to how boring and long the story is (for them: I know some people like it) and simply quit the game and go play something else. The same happened with my sister who, as soon as I heard about this, I went to tell her the news and she literally said the "eff word" to the game and didn't even bother to play again. And she actually followed it, but just found it overly boring.

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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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Originally Posted by Voltyblast

But yes a lot of people, as soon as I tell them about how the expansion is locked, they simply laugh and say "forget it", but let's face it: FFXIV needs subscribers, needs more players and being niche doesn't give you enough (one of the reasons why Wildstar failed and why the 1.0 archaic system was botched), and this is why there's a lot of controversy right now: fans want the story to be kept, while non-fans simply want it to be optional so that them and their friends can play together without being bothered.

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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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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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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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Originally Posted by Kosmos992k

^^^^^^^^^^^
This, so much this.

When we started HW, I figured this would be a deterrent to RMT botting in HW areas, because the investment in time and effort to get RMT bots to HW locations is quite high. As you say, it is effectively gated behind a lot of content which isn't easily navigated by a bot of any kind. Removing that gate or giving a potion that RMTs can exploit to jump the gate would be a terrible addition to the game from the point of view of RMT deterrence.

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It was definitely nice while it lasted. I know they're putting in more anti-RMT countermeasures, but those never seem to last long.

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Originally Posted by Teryaani

It was definitely nice while it lasted. I know they're putting in more anti-RMT countermeasures, but those never seem to last long.

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Yes, however, content gates that bog down RMT access to new areas and content seem to be far more effective (and last longer) than many of the other countermeasures involved. I mean, if a bot in an HW area get's removed, the RMT has to work another one all the way through ARR and then HW to achieve that again. It's non trivial and increases the cost to the RMT. Anything that slows them down, bogs them down or increases their costs is a deterrent to RMT.

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Originally Posted by LadyKairi

If they were to introduce a level boosting option, I think it most definitely should not be to get to max level or close max level. And it most certainly should not be introduced so early. We aren't even on our second expansion yet. WoW didn't even introduce theirs until after how many expansions? If anything, increase the amount of experience you get during low levels so people still get that low level experience, but leveling gets sped up significantly (but I don't suggest this for a long while yet).

If people are so concerned about it taking so long to do the story to get to other content, even though it pains me to say it.... Somehow make it so people can skip the story it it's not something they are interested in? I love the story so much, but my mother is one of those people who's not interested in the story and thinks it's an annoyance... So I totally understand where people are coming from.

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I think I would be ok if they did it in a way that allows you to skip all the fetch and fluff quests and it would give you a buff to your XP rate until like level 50 or maybe even 60. Less appealing, would be skip MSQ altogether. Least appealing would be *DING*, you are now level 70 and have credit for 100% MSQ completion.

I was thinking about the presentation that Yoshi-P did about the downfall of 1.0. On one of the slides, #1 was "Never forget the fans." Which leads to a question, are the fans the group of people who have purchased your product for many years, or are they the people who consider purchasing your product and decide that since there is effort involved, they would rather pass. To me, the answer is simple, the fans are those of us that played 1.0, 2.0, 3.0, single player console Final Fantasy games or whatever. Someone playing WoW or Tera or whatever today and would consider your product if you made it easy for them are NOT your fans.

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Originally Posted by Istaru

I was thinking about the presentation that Yoshi-P did about the downfall of 1.0. On one of the slides, #1 was "Never forget the fans." Which leads to a question, are the fans the group of people who have purchased your product for many years, or are they the people who consider purchasing your product and decide that since there is effort involved, they would rather pass. To me, the answer is simple, the fans are those of us that played 1.0, 2.0, 3.0, single player console Final Fantasy games or whatever. Someone playing WoW or Tera or whatever today and would consider your product if you made it easy for them are NOT your fans.

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In the interview he said he talked to people familiar with WoW so clearly his fans aren't the loyal players of XI, 1.0-3.0. At least not when it comes to groundbreaking potential features.