From 15 years WoW to FF

So all I can say is, I’m glad that I sticked with it, there definitely were stretches where I was about to throw the towel, most prominently during the hours of ARR “travel to the sands hideout for the 500th time” during which I made it a fun game to anticipate when and in what order my character and the npcs will nod their heads during the endless cutscenes of circle-talking.

Which brings me to - I recently brought one of my real-life colleagues into the game, but even tho he’s praising the cutesy characters, looks of gear (doh! coming from WoW with paint-on robes) and Zone atmosphere, he’s constantly complaining about sluggish gameplay, lack of skills and boring quests, and all I can do is keep saying stick with it, it will get better.

I feel like FF14 loses a lot of potential players to the first 30 or so levels, alternating two skills on a 2.50 GCD, players that would happily play the game at higher levels and higher content tiers if they knew what the high-level game feels like.

I think developers should consider putting in some “front-loaded” action, to give completely new players a taste of what it looks like later, like a lot of oldschool JRPGs had this going, starting the game in a climax, through a flashback/future vision sort of thing, which then dropped to zero, slowly building up again as the actual game goes.

Cheers!

While it does lose a lot of potential players during the first 50 levels who prefer fast gameplay with lots of buttons, it would also lose a lot of potential players if there were too many buttons to press too frequently.

I could not begin to tell you how many videos and streams I have seen of new players struggling to do their 2-button rotation with 2.5 seconds between them. Something as simple as the orange circles distracts them enough to interrupt it and press the first button twice. They ignore their abilities that increase damage or press them as if they are a GCD. Sometimes they don't refresh dots as they expire and this is just the first 30 levels. The slow gameplay helps a lot of players ease into what becomes a lot more mechanically busy, and rotations that become a lot more complicated than the 2 buttons you start with.

Quite interesting how many players mention their play time as a reason to make another topic on forum/reddit to post their feedback.

Also interesting how thread name has nothing to do with actual post.

1-40 at least needs a total overhaul. It's the hardest rite of passage known to man and only few survive it

This comes up pretty regularly, and I have my standard copy/paste answer to this. Hopefully the Devs will hear us out.

...copy paste answer:

1) By the 4th dungeon, aka level 20: the character should have their core "base" rotation, in full. This is the 1-2-3 main rotation for most jobs; the ice/fire balance for BLM; the 4 single target dance moves for DNC, etc.
2) Also, they should have access to at least 1 AoE.
3) By level 50, they should have every button they're going to get, including the special skill gauges/lilies/etc.
4) Post 50, the only new abilities should be enhanced versions of what we already have, or things that are kinda "QoL" like longer time for certain gauges (DRG/BLM); more uses of weave-abilities or "Bigger" gauges (like SAM could increase from 100 max to 200) or faster charging of this gauge to allow more use.

In short, playing a job on 80 or 50 should be the "same" but with less to weave in, or more time between ability uses. Blackmage is the absolute worst regarding how its rotation is affected by level. (imho)

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Originally Posted by kaynide

This comes up pretty regularly, and I have my standard copy/paste answer to this. Hopefully the Devs will hear us out.

...copy paste answer:

1) By the 4th dungeon, aka level 20: the character should have their core "base" rotation, in full. This is the 1-2-3 main rotation for most jobs; the ice/fire balance for BLM; the 4 single target dance moves for DNC, etc.
2) Also, they should have access to at least 1 AoE.
3) By level 50, they should have every button they're going to get, including the special skill gauges/lilies/etc.
4) Post 50, the only new abilities should be enhanced versions of what we already have, or things that are kinda "QoL" like longer time for certain gauges (DRG/BLM); more uses of weave-abilities or "Bigger" gauges (like SAM could increase from 100 max to 200) or faster charging of this gauge to allow more use.

In short, playing a job on 80 or 50 should be the "same" but with less to weave in, or more time between ability uses. Blackmage is the absolute worst regarding how its rotation is affected by level. (imho)

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I actually love this idea. After hitting Lvl 80, it's kind of annoying when you queue for duty roulette and end up playing with a dumbed down rotation most of the time. Although that would still exist for pre lvl 50 content, at least it wouldn't be as much of a difference, and lvl 50 - 80 would give you your full kit making the gameplay much more engaging.

Adding to what you said, after level 50 you could just gain new traits instead of abilities to modify your already existing abilities.

A lot of the spells/skills you are used to using now weren't available in ARR but added in later expansions. So you are wanting like 3 expansions worth of abilities added to ARR.

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Originally Posted by KitKatnip

A lot of the spells/skills you are used to using now weren't available in ARR but added in later expansions. So you are wanting like 3 expansions worth of abilities added to ARR.

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There were a lot more which were removed from the game. ARR and HW didn't have only few abilities like currently, quite the contrary

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Originally Posted by Kandraxx

I feel like FF14 loses a lot of potential players to the first 30 or so levels, alternating two skills on a 2.50 GCD, players that would happily play the game at higher levels and higher content tiers if they knew what the high-level game feels like.

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That's because the potential players that you're talking about are MMO vets. If you're going from the post-WotLK WoW experience where they give you 90% of your rotation by level 10 and then have nothing more to learn or look forward to for another 50 levels, then the FFXIV experience seems jarring. For new players who are just learning how to play an MMO, however, FFXIV is way better. Changing your game to make it compelling for long-time gamers at the expense of new players is a good way to tank your game. There's a reason that FFXIV continues on an upward trajectory.

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Originally Posted by Jin-

1-40 at least needs a total overhaul. It's the hardest rite of passage known to man and only few survive it

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I got hooked playing this game with the early ARR experience, and bought the game, but yeah, it does filter out a lot of would be players. I've advocated for further 'improvements' to the new player experience over the years, but get constantly told the game isn't for me, even though it is just something I am arguing on principle mostly.