For stormblood do you want the gated conten path of hw, or the free roam path of arr?

I'm getting this strange, yet irritating, sense of deja vu. Like it or not, the game is set a certain way, the OP doesn't like it, it's explained why it's that way...and the OP argues that those reasons shouldn't apply.

I have to bow out of this thread. I can't take the ridiculous arguing. At this point, I have to agree with an earlier poster, OP appears to like arguing for the sake of it.

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Originally Posted by Chalbee

Level gates aren't the same, because you can meet them in a variety of ways: Leves, FATES, side quests, main quests, dungeons, hunt log, challenge log... The HW gates are pretty much just MSQ, inflexible and absolute. Lvl 60 gatherer? Well, you can't get to that node because you haven't done the MSQ. Hell, they don't even let you fly in a zone without making you do the MSQ for aether currents. You can find all of the map ones you want, but if you haven't finished the MSQ in that area, no flying for you.

Regardless, though, it doesn't really matter does it? At the end of the day SE will do what SE will do. Many people will be just fine with them forcing the MSQ down our throats, others like myself will be irritated but most likely carry on...

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This game isn't centered around tradecraft/fieldcraft classes and jobs, though. It's centered around battlecraft classes and battlecraft jobs (more so the latter, since the devs are moving away from the class system). Tradecraft and fieldcraft are important, yes, but they will always come second. Because that's the way this game was designed. You are not a Weaver of Light or a Botanist of Light. You are a Warrior of Light. I know in 1.0 you could level up crafting and such, but even then, I think 1.0 was still battlecraft first, tradecraft second. Lore or no lore, this game is designed around battlecraft jobs, not crafters, not gatherers.

I'm sorry that the MSQ frustrates you so much, but this is Final Fantasy. Final Fantasy is pretty big on stories and lore, and if that really bothers you so much, then why do you play a game from a franchise that emphasizes the story so much? Not trying to argue here, but just saying.

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Originally Posted by bswpayton

But where the zones gated after you reached level 15 no , did u have another zone gate once you hit level 35 nope you didnt , so to say that things are gated the same is just not true. What I meant by free roam is that you can go beyond any zone that your story quest was in and in arr you could. --snip--

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Again, there were no lore reasons to gate any ARR zones. Said zones were completely open in 1.0, and 2.0 was, more or less, based off of existing parts of 1.0. The only gated zone in 1.0 and 2.0 was Ishgard, which continued to stay gated until you finished 2.55, completed the Steps of Faith trial, and set foot into Ishgard, successfully starting 3.0's story.

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If your gatherers are higher level than your battle class you can go anywhere in the zone and gather what you need.

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This game is not centered around crafters and gatherers, but battlecraft classes and jobs. Unfortunate for those that would rather specialize in crafting and gathering, but that's just the way the game was designed. Crafting/gathering is more of a second part-time job, where as your first full-time job is being the Warrior of Light in whatever battlecraft job you choose.

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If you are level 55 in hw you will have to settle for whatever fate that is in the area unless you complete the msq ,these are two totally different things and lets not pretend like they are not arr is no where even close to being gated like hw is.

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This game was designed for you to follow the story, and level with the MSQ, hence why it gives you so much experience. It wasn't designed for you to level solely on FATEs, and ignore the story. This is a story-driven MMO. Also, nothing is stopping you from leaving an area and returning to it later. You make it sound as if you cannot, under any circumstance, leave whichever area your current MSQ is in until you complete that quest. That's not the case. You simply cannot go to some areas because they are story-locked, and they are story-locked because of the lore. And yes, the dev team consciously made the decisions to lock those zones. But I don't understand why you are letting them affect your gameplay so much.

It's far more exciting to unlock the locked doors than it is to just have them open for you with no resistance. At least, I think it is.

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Originally Posted by HyoMinPark

Again, there were no lore reasons to gate any ARR zones. Said zones were completely open in 1.0, and 2.0 was, more or less, based off of existing parts of 1.0. The only gated zone in 1.0 and 2.0 was Ishgard, which continued to stay gated until you finished 2.55, completed the Steps of Faith trial, and set foot into Ishgard, successfully starting 3.0's story.

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Not to nitpick but, there is one ARR zone, maybe even should call it a subzone. Until you get to certain point in the MSQ (the part where your running around for crap to get to Garuda) you cannot go to the Isle of Umbra in Western La Noscea. A few fishing spots are there that have items that can be found nowhere else.

I wonder how people will react when there's housing areas you can only gain access to with a bought expansion and [probably] MSQ completed for the area?

Let me say no I do not like to argue for the sake of arguing the points that are being made just arent points well not all of them. The last posted said that arr had many gates like no it didn't once you hit level 15 you could go anywhere any location that was arr content any time you felt like it.

I simply asked which did people prefer and then it turned into this , simply because people are ignoring the fact that I said you can go anywhere in the arr zone. I wasn't talking about lore I wasn't asking for reason I just said that it is so , and nobody denied that the simple question was which did players prefer. I didnt say why is hw gated the way it is when I started my thread if I did I definitely didnt intend to because it was just a question about do you like route A or do you like route B when it comes to how you play the game for the next expansion. But all of a sudden it turned into well Arr is gated to when yes it maybe gated , but again once you hit level 15 you can go anywhere you want to. Im just stating I would like something similar to this in the next expansion.

The devs make the game they call the shots , they decide on what happens I was just asking would it be nicer to players to not be forced to do the story to explore the different zones if they wrote the content in such a way. Its not a crazy idea at all due to, like many have said the amount of players that have complained about how gated hw was are just gates in general. And nobody is even asking the question yes the lore, but does the method actually help bring players to the game is this a selling point for the game. Is it a good method if you look up any chart on the most profitable mmos out right now this game isnt on it , so what is it thats preventing a great game from doing better finically than other games.

Maybe the methods that are held so dear arent workin as well as people think they are , and a little change wouldnt kill the game is all Im sayin. And this wouldnt even be a big change because its already happened in Arr when you reach level 15 and you are free to go anywhere in the zone in Arr. Sorry if I worded my question wrong I truely apologize wasnt tryin to argue with anyone are act like I dont love the story I love the story its amazing, what I dont love is being forced to do the story to do other things in the game that I dont love. Because thats what you have to do when you dont have anymore story you make up stuff to do.

Is there a particular reason why the Warrior of Light can't make his/her own armor and forge his/her weapons? I'd see that as a fairly cool thing to do, I can almost imagine the cutscenes: The warrior is forging a blade to slay those dragons. Only the finest and sharpest will do because the foe will be extremely powerful! Too bad it's not possible unless FC mates are giving material handouts from the following zones.

A good game story enables gaming and encourages players to do things. A not-so-good-one disables options and opportunities even if the plot might be intriguing and captivating. Lvl60 DoH and Lvl50 DoW is an extreme example. HW gating design gimps even hand in hand progress (lvls about equal), making crafting & gathering worthless for the first two battle classes to be leveled.

Yeah, all of this boils down to opinions. I understand that many people see the HW design as good. The devs had a vision of a story and exactly how it should be experienced. Where I disagree is that they chose the wrong media for it, it didn't work well in an MMO. I see it as single player design trying to be forced into the MMO mold with not so great success.

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Originally Posted by bswpayton

I simply asked which did people prefer

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To answer your simple question: I don't really care, as long as it makes sense for players to be able to explore an area.

When it comes to ARR areas, it made sense for players to be able to access nearly everything, since that's how it was in 1.0.
When it comes to HW areas, it'd wouldn't make sense for a player fresh out of Ishgard to already be able to explore Azys Lla. The same can be said about the Churning Mists, since you have to go through Sohm Al to get there. The Hinterlands are a bit iffy in that regard, but I assume it has to do with the fact there's a lot of forgotten and dangerous stuff that the Sharlayans left behind.

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Originally Posted by bswpayton

The devs make the game they call the shots , they decide on what happens I was just asking would it be nicer to players to not be forced to do the story to explore the different zones if they wrote the content in such a way. Its not a crazy idea at all due to, like many have said the amount of players that have complained about how gated hw was are just gates in general. And nobody is even asking the question yes the lore, but does the method actually help bring players to the game is this a selling point for the game. Is it a good method if you look up any chart on the most profitable mmos out right now this game isnt on it , so what is it thats preventing a great game from doing better finically than other games.

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I'm sure that new players will suddenly join the game en masse, if they hear the news about being able to explore a lvl 45-50 zone at lvl 15 (they won't). Even then, XIV is probably one of the healthier MMOs currently out there, especially considering it's surviving with a P2P model, in an age where most MMOs go with the B2P or F2P models.

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Originally Posted by bswpayton

Maybe the methods that are held so dear arent workin as well as people think they are , and a little change wouldnt kill the game is all Im sayin. And this wouldnt even be a big change because its already happened in Arr when you reach level 15 and you are free to go anywhere in the zone in Arr.

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It'd be a pretty big change to allow players to explore Azys Lla right away. But you'd probably want a Stormblood example for this. Imagine if Ala Mhigo (the city-state) ends up being one of the explorable zones in the expansion. It'll likely be gated behind the story, as it wouldn't make sense to be able to explore an imperial fortress right after entering Gyr Abania (the region).

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Originally Posted by bswpayton

Sorry if I worded my question wrong I truely apologize wasnt tryin to argue with anyone are act like I dont love the story I love the story its amazing, what I dont love is being forced to do the story to do other things in the game that I dont love. Because thats what you have to do when you dont have anymore story you make up stuff to do.

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If you love the story so much, why not do it right away and have fun playing the game? I think you worry a bit too much about the parts of the game that you seemingly dislike.

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Originally Posted by Amirya

I'm getting this strange, yet irritating, sense of deja vu. Like it or not, the game is set a certain way, the OP doesn't like it, it's explained why it's that way...and the OP argues that those reasons shouldn't apply.

I have to bow out of this thread. I can't take the ridiculous arguing. At this point, I have to agree with an earlier poster, OP appears to like arguing for the sake of it.

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At some point SE needs to see why locking expansions behind expansions behind the main game is a bad idea. Imagine if 5.0 requires you to finish the entirety of 4.0, which probably requires the full completion of 3.0... SE would need to put "do not buy if you're new to FFXIV" on the box just so potential newbies don't feel like they've bought a temporary brick.

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Originally Posted by Nestama

At some point SE needs to see why locking expansions behind expansions behind the main game is a bad idea. Imagine if 5.0 requires you to finish the entirety of 4.0, which probably requires the full completion of 3.0... SE would need to put "do not buy if you're new to FFXIV" on the box just so potential newbies don't feel like they've bought a temporary brick.

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Ha well jump potion has just been confirmed but yet players playing now are gated in hw , thats just so backwards to me , the thread is blowing up.

Honestly, it's because of the gates that is why we're getting the level boost/story skip potion :/

I'd prefer more of a free-roam style in general, depending on the narrative context for the particular contents, but I find very little difference in that regard between ARR and HW. A few optional leveling dungeons don't suddenly make a leveling experience "free-roam".

So basicly SE just gave up on their on lore and now will be having jump potions to skip any gates from the old content. But yet current players still have those gates , this just doesnt make one bit of sense to me at all