30 hours or less?

I am honestly (but pleasantly) surprised to see a good and interesting thread coming from you Rokien. I'm glad to see that people are not freaking out about it taking 30 hours to go from 1-15. I for one welcome it with open arms IF it is done properly. I enjoyed the first 20 levels of FFXI because there was so much to do and I had things to look forward to as I progressed (milestones).

It's also nice to see that Yoshida knows how important it is for a gamer to get completely used to the game/fighting mechanics before tossing them into more difficult situations. I used to have problems with the current version that I kept forgetting what my skills were and what they did or how to chain them. Especially when taking a small break from the game. Adressing this problem early on in the game will help a lot.

Something else I've been wondering and perhaps something that I might expect to see happen. How will the "on rails" experience work with FFXIV when you can change classes on the go. Perhaps the game will force you to level that first class to 15 before allowing to change?

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Originally Posted by Drazzan

It's getting worse with each passing post.

Onto the topic at hand, I can't see this as being a bad thing. I think MMOs need justified length, and the whole ideal of pushing towards end-game needs to change, enjoying the journey is great. As long as the 30 hour length is without grind, and without boredem; nobody will even notice and have a great time doing so.

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Agreed!

I think one of the things XI had going against it for a long time was that it had tons of endgame content. Compared to everyone else you didn't feel like you've even started unless you were 75. The levels between 1 and Cap should not look like a barrier. As you said, they should be a journey. There is a reason I refuse to be power-leveled. I want to be absolutely sure that when I hit level cap I know what all of my actions are, when to use them, and I have them arranged for optimal efficiency. I would rather have that all figured out BEFORE I start endgame, rather than burden the rest of the party with letting me figure it out while they all die.

Unfortunately in the current game Yoshi-P has taken measures to make lvl25 fun, but things like the Horizon caravan and Toto-Rak get a little old. At 45 you can do most endgame stuff, but you can't expect an invite unless you're 50. Before and between those two levels there is very little to do. You can do the main scenario quests as you level your first class, but apart from that there's nothing besides gear upgrades to look forward to at, say, lvl20. Sure you can do leve achievements, but that sort of feels like a desperate attempt at finding stimulation.

This is actually interesting news. I believe they said leveling would be primarily based off quests in 2.0? Not grinding? They must have a ton of quests in store to make Lvl1-15 last 30 hours.

Not if ther're just hella long quests that give a ton of exp, instead of... ton of quests :P

Putting work into level will make it more fun to me. That was the problem with TERA I had. I got to max in about 15 hours worth of gameplay and then had nothing to do but end game dungeons. I'm hoping getting to max in 2.0 takes a lot LOT longer, but even if it does, the grinders will still hit max in a few days (if they aren't already).

Most quest on low level would be tutorial quests. "Do this, do that. See, you can do this, too. Gratulation, you learned teleportation. And now I teach you how to change the class." And so on. And then there are the 3 (not only 1) storylines.
Many things that can sidetrack a person who play the game the first time.

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Originally Posted by SniperRifle

This is actually interesting news. I believe they said leveling would be primarily based off quests in 2.0? Not grinding? They must have a ton of quests in store to make Lvl1-15 last 30 hours.

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They said leveling would be doing content. Not grinding only, not questing only.

If it takes thirty hours to hit level 15 I will be soooo excited..

Currently it takes 2.. =/

I'd have to say Ideal amount of time to level up to 50 would depend on how good the quests are.. I'm hoping for like 120 hours. That's about how much time you can put in to one of the good Final Fantasy Games, casually, before you've just done everything.

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Originally Posted by Gokulo

Not if ther're just hella long quests that give a ton of exp, instead of... ton of quests :P

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I love super long quests, they are more interesting and thought out~

But it probably wont take 30 hours my guess 15 or so for us or people who just go LDFKJSD:FLKDSJF LEVEL UP LSDJFSD:LFJK! Something like that. The biggest mistury is AFTER level 15, when the party starts, are we going to see what happened when you reached 40 and it takes no time to reach 50? Or are we going to see a nice balance? Also what party stuff will there be? Will most quests be able to do with a party, or are these quests going to be solo orientated...

the 'side tracked' bit is probably due to story quests etc. where xp is less efficient. Either due to CSs and running around or just lower rewards. and of course, i'll be side tracked by exploring.

30 hours sounds about right to me. that's a good power weekend for the hardcore guys. and casuals can enjoy themselves at a leisurely pace.

after that, i suspect that's when you'll really start to get into GC content and story quests and really learning party dynamics.

I'm curious if this will be forced (IE, sharp jump in quest difficulty so you have to party) or if it will be more like leves and you can solo almost as efficiently as group. I personally am hoping for the former.

my big concern right now is what kind of endgame content will be available at launch. we have a lot of players who are already 50. and i Cannot imagine a lot of them are going to want to start over from scratch just for the kicks.

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Originally Posted by Myrhn

Wait till 2.0 and see for yourself

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yes please