Here's a Thought: New Game +

Surely, there is more than one person like me, who is an altaholic. And who also tends to have a certain level of RP about their characters. I'm not talking, sitting around and posing/talking in-character at each other. I'm talking like...I have this character who is the Scholar/White Mage. Then I have this character, the burlier guy, who is the Monk/Warrior. So on, so forth. You know, character typing.

Heavensward is coming around soon and I'd love to play the new race. Totally planning on Fantasia-ing for it. But my main classes are SCH and WHM. I think a male Au Ra would look extremely silly in a casting role.

So just roll an alt right? Except there's that loooong drudgery story and aaaall thoooose attunements to slog through. I can't just level to 50 and start building for endgame, I'd need to sit through so many cutscenes when I might not be interested in replaying the story at all.

So, what if we did a New Game + style feature? When you beat the main story mode or attune to any raid/dungeon/feature for the first time, any associated features are automatically unlocked on all subsequent created characters?

The story/attunements can still be available to play--except this time as an optional feature.

Suggestion in a Nutshell To Clear Up Misconceptions:

-Your first character finishes the story and attunements just like we all have to do right now. Nothing here changes.
-You create a brand new character.
-This character starts in your chosen city and chosen class, at level 1 with nothing. But the core story dungeons and gameplay features you unlocked previously are already unlocked.
-So you can choose to go through the story on this new character by talking to an NPC or choose to do the FATE/Dungeon/Log grind to level up. The story would still be there, just relegated to an optional feature since you already did it once.

Here's a counter-thought: Nope.

You're not limited to casting attire as a WHM/SCH you know, glamour exists. Also, FFXIV is not an alt-friendly game as its been built around you playing one character with access to every single Class/Job so this idea of your's is purely something you want because you want to be lazy and not complete the Main Scenario every time. Let's be honest, are you REALLY going to go through the MQ that you've already experience 3+ times so far?

It's not about the attire, my friend. It's about the body type.
You didn't really give a reason you're against this, either. So are you just being contrary for the sake of it? How would this be bad for the game?
The only thing I could think of is gating gil farmers, but surely there is a better way to accomplish that.

I can dig what he's trying to say, I started a character on Cactuar to play with a group of friends, but my main is on Balmung, and it was just crazy boring to try and keep up with attuning and everything, I was constantly having to keep them waiting, which they didn't mind, but that's beside the point. It was all stuff I'd already done before, I wouldn't mind an -option- on making a new character to have attunements unlock automatically as my level progresses on alts-but still make me have to progress through all the quests and everything, just not have to run to the attunements to do so.

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Originally Posted by Verlyn

How would this be bad for the game?

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I believe it would contradict with the purpose of the Armory system they've implemented. They've built this game around with you needing to only ever have 1 character in mind.

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Originally Posted by Heskett

I believe it would contradict with the purpose of the Armory system they've implemented. They've built this game around with you needing to only ever have 1 character in mind.

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Just because it allows for it, doesn't mean it has to be.

Besides, that gives people no incentive to take the subscription that allows you to have multiple characters per server. If this was what Squeenix had in mind entirely, I would think this subscription option would not exist.
I think it would be in Square Enix's best interest, at least, to allow for this sort of thing.

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Originally Posted by Heskett

You're not limited to casting attire as a WHM/SCH you know, glamour exists. Also, FFXIV is not an alt-friendly game as its been built around you playing one character with access to every single Class/Job

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Actually, casters are the most restricted when it comes to (the generally overcomplicated) glamour system here - cue "all classes" mage clothes and for example "GLA/PLD/MRD/WAR only" DoW gear. Also, the system was planned to play every class/job with one character, but the game itself, as it's developed, has turned quite against exactly that, discouraging multi-classing - cue the relic grind, to mention just one example.

Body types really are something that should've existed from the start, to be honest, I totally agree with that. One of the main things I don't really like either, personally.

Isn't changing class and starting from Lv1, with prepurchased Soldiery Gear or low level melded gear (even glamoured and dyed if you want) waiting in Armory, with a Chocobo (or another type) mount + Companion to help you from Lv1, cross class skills available, all Teleport locations available, lots of Gil to spend etc a form of NEW GAME+ already?

The game is fine as it is, there is enough to do already. You're free to roll another character if you don't have enough lol

As far as I know, there is only one MMO that has ever had a New Game+ feature, and that was DDO.

If a New Game+ feature worked here like it did in DDO (using that as an example as that would be the precedent), then I'd have to say no. Good concept, but I cannot see a good execution of it.

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Originally Posted by BreathlessTao

Also, the system was planned to play every class/job with one character, but the game itself, as it's developed, has turned quite against exactly that, discouraging multi-classing - cue the relic grind, to mention just one example.

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So you want to say that grinding for 9 zodiac weapons on 9 different characters is easier and faster than on 1 character?

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Originally Posted by Hyunckel

Isn't changing class and starting from Lv1, with prepurchased Soldiery Gear or low level melded gear (even glamoured and dyed if you want) waiting in Armory, with a Chocobo (or another type) mount + Companion to help you from Lv1, cross class skills available, all Teleport locations available, lots of Gil to spend etc a form of NEW GAME+ already?

The game is fine as it is, there is enough to do already. You're free to roll another character if you don't have enough lol

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So, is that your answer? "It's good enough"? "I'm fine with it, so everyone else must be too"?
What is really so bad about this feature, as I detailed it in the OP (note that I didn't say you would start with soldiery gear)? Let's have a discussion, here. I challenge you to actually think about this, rather than dismissing it on principle. What about this, would be bad for the game?

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Originally Posted by HakuroDK

As far as I know, there is only one MMO that has ever had a New Game+ feature, and that was DDO.

If a New Game+ feature worked here like it did in DDO (using that as an example as that would be the precedent), then I'd have to say no. Good concept, but I cannot see a good execution of it.

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I am unfamiliar with DDO's concept. How did it work? I detailed my concept, so I'm curious to see how DDO is so different. If it is different...then how is that relevant?

I think a lot of people saying no to this don't really care much about their characters apperances. I have two characters at level 50, one is a tank and the other one a caster because I can't see my caster character be a tank, so I had to make another character to try tanking as well.

And I kinda wanted to kill myself knowing I had to go through in my opinion the worst main quest in a game ever. So I agree with OP, it would be a great feature

I'd love a new game+. I'm also an alt-a-holic and I like to have different looks and characters. I've got 2 characters to 50 on two different servers, and getting the second character to 50 took months because of the awful main story. It's good the first time, but it's just the amount of teleporting, talking and cutscenes. I just wish I could make a new character with all dungeons unlocked, no story mode, and just level/gear it up through dungeons/fates/whatever. On my main character I've got 7/9 classes at max level but for some of them I think to myself, "I'd love a lala sch" or "I'd love an Hyur whm". But just can't bring myself to go through the main story for a third time.

It seems like most of the people for this are against going through the story, which you would need to do anyways. No new game+ ever allowed you to skip anything, it only let you have the same skills and level as the game you loaded it from. Skipping everything is stupid, at or not, and should not be allowed. New game+ only made you OP, you never skipped stuff. Changing that would change how the entire gaming community will see it. It's not something that would happen just here.

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Originally Posted by monochromicorn

It seems like most of the people for this are against going through the story, which you would need to do anyways. No new game+ ever allowed you to skip anything, it only let you have the same skills and level as the game you loaded it from. Skipping everything is stupid, at or not, and should not be allowed. New game+ only made you OP, you never skipped stuff. Changing that would change how the entire gaming community will see it. It's not something that would happen just here.

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This is a very half-hearted answer. "It's stupid." How is it stupid? Why is any of that a bad thing, especially if you've already run the story over once? What would happen that would be negative, in your eyes? What are you so afraid of?
I really want people to think about this--and to read my initial post. The terminology can change, if it's not suitable.

Just flat disagreeing isn't going to do your points of view any good--it's better if you think about it and justify your disagreement. If you really want the devs to consider both sides, give them two sides to consider.

Sorry, no thank you. Go level your alts like the rest of us have.

^ But Anarnee. We would level our alts. My proposal starts you at level 1.

The main things that I wish to have at level one on an alt is the ability to dye, do hairstyles and glamour, all the appearance things and attunements. I actually love having the story quests for levelling alts but if you could have aetherytes attuned and have a list of all duties unlocked on the main character for that server, and be able to do them as long as you meet the level requirements and when you get there in the story, hey you might have to do it again, after it was done, but this would actually promote more dungeon running because getting through story a person has done before won't be required to do that. It could even be optional if say a parent let's their child make a character and that would be their first experience so no unlocks, you just toggle which characters it affects or not. And which characters the unlocks sync with.

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Originally Posted by Heskett

Here's a counter-thought: Nope.

You're not limited to casting attire as a WHM/SCH you know, glamour exists. Also, FFXIV is not an alt-friendly game as its been built around you playing one character with access to every single Class/Job so this idea of your's is purely something you want because you want to be lazy and not complete the Main Scenario every time. Let's be honest, are you REALLY going to go through the MQ that you've already experience 3+ times so far?

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I will be honest, I agree with nope.

But.... I've already been through the MQ 3+ times myself. Got no issue there ;P

I don't see why it would be so bad from an RP perspective. But really there are no dialogue or quest diversions to make this worthwhile

It would work purely for the aesthetic of having your lala mage and your elezen archer etc

It would need:

a) a server based Armoury Chest so you could freely gear up alts

But with an added limitation to maintain that the game is truly designed for one character is a jack of all trades:

b) Provided you have already levelled to 50 in that class on your main, the alt can level that class purely just using class quests (basically get 50 x the XP per class quest, so yes the alt could go from 1 to 50 in an evening)

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Originally Posted by Terrini

The main things that I wish to have at level one on an alt is the ability to dye, do hairstyles and glamour, all the appearance things and attunements. I actually love having the story quests for levelling alts but if you could have aetherytes attuned and have a list of all duties unlocked on the main character for that server, and be able to do them as long as you meet the level requirements and when you get there in the story, hey you might have to do it again, after it was done, but this would actually promote more dungeon running because getting through story a person has done before won't be required to do that. It could even be optional if say a parent let's their child make a character and that would be their first experience so no unlocks, you just toggle which characters it affects or not. And which characters the unlocks sync with.

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Thank you, I appreciate you pointing what might actually be a legitimate downside to this.
Yes, the lack of traffic to low level dungeons is a problem. I would argue, however, that it wouldn't result in much difference. Since, if few people are making alts at all, then that traffic wouldn't exist anyway. You could also argue that they would be using the dungeon roulette to level--so the traffic would also be there. But having some way to encourage people to populate the queues would indeed be necessary, either way.

As for the optional thing--yes, it could well be an optional setting when creating your character.

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Originally Posted by Rhas

I will be honest, I agree with nope.

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But why?

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Originally Posted by Altanas

I don't see why it would be so bad from an RP perspective. But really there are no dialogue or quest diversions to make this worthwhile

It would work purely for the aesthetic of having your lala mage and your elezen archer etc

It would need:

a) a server based Armoury Chest so you could freely gear up alts

But with an added limitation to maintain that the game is truly designed for one character is a jack of all trades:

b) Provided you have already levelled to 50 in that class on your main, the alt can level that class purely just using class quests (basically get 50 x the XP per class quest, so yes the alt could go from 1 to 50 in an evening)

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I agree, it would be purely aesthetic, but something like that is actually pretty important to someone like me.
I don't think any boosts to level 50 are necessary. I think you'll want people to have to put in the work to level up. If nothing else, to encourage people into dungeons.

Have to also disagree with the OP;

This basically boils down to a "Can't be arsed to do the Main Story more than once" which I can understand and back...but it does not take a long time to get a first-character from 0-50 on a their first class. The XP from the main story alone make it worth face rolling through. Moreover, once you have a 50 main character you should EASILY be able to supply your alts with equipment (via farm/dungeon run/crafting) making it all the more easy.

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Originally Posted by kaynide

Have to also disagree with the OP;

This basically boils down to a "Can't be arsed to do the Main Story more than once" which I can understand and back...but it does not take a long time to get a first-character from 0-50 on a their first class. The XP from the main story alone make it worth face rolling through. Moreover, once you have a 50 main character you should EASILY be able to supply your alts with equipment (via farm/dungeon run/crafting) making it all the more easy.

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"Why not? It's so easy," is a cop out. It doesn't give a reason why this shouldn't be implemented. You know what else is easy? Not having your Chocobo out when you queue for a dungeon. Does that mean that they should just not bother implementing that change?

This is little more than a QoL change for people who want to have multiple characters. It puts control of the leveling process for a new character in the control of the player. If someone wants to replay the story? Well, they can. If they don't, then the Leves/Dungeons/FATE grind waits for them.

Give me the reason that you think this is a bad thing.

I leveled an alt. The agony was real. For me it had no value to see the story again.

For people who say the game is built to play one character: no it's not. You can level everything on one character, yes. Unfortunately I can only use my other jobs for content that is, for me, not challenging. It's just the mandatory situation to run X dungeon for poetics or X FATE for GC seals or EX roulette or primals etc.. It's not challenging content at all.

It would be fun if we could experience the hardest content the game has to offer with another job. Since last patch we can, given that there is a penalty so not many groups do it. Fact remains you will need to create an alt which many people do. I'm with you OP!

I have 16 alts. I have gotten 3 through the main story and have another close to it with 3 more around the mid-point. As an option, I guess your idea is okay. Personally, I would not use that option because I want to use the exp from the quests rather than just having leves and fates as a method of leveling until able to dungeon. I would cry. Seriously. ><

eta: Oh, and for those who think this game is made just for one character... loooooool. SE is HAPPY to offer altoholics the option to have something like 40 characters. ^^ We PAY extra for this shit. XDDD

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Originally Posted by Sadana

I have 16 alts. I have gotten 3 through the main story and have another close to it with 3 more around the mid-point. As an option, I guess your idea is okay. Personally, I would not use that option because I want to use the exp from the quests rather than just having leves and fates as a method of leveling until able to dungeon. I would cry. Seriously. ><

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That's fine. You'd still have the option to do it that way ^_^.
What this does is give you options on how to take an alt character through the game. Someone who wants to replay the story for the easy exp still could. Someone who isn't interested can do it the other way.
Everyone should theoretically win here.

God no. You being too lazy to deal with the new character stuff simply because you think a male Au Ra healer would look silly is a poor reason to waste developer resources on a niche feature.

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Originally Posted by Altanas

I don't see why it would be so bad from an RP perspective. But really there are no dialogue or quest diversions to make this worthwhile

It would work purely for the aesthetic of having your lala mage and your elezen archer etc

It would need:

a) a server based Armoury Chest so you could freely gear up alts

But with an added limitation to maintain that the game is truly designed for one character is a jack of all trades:

b) Provided you have already levelled to 50 in that class on your main, the alt can level that class purely just using class quests (basically get 50 x the XP per class quest, so yes the alt could go from 1 to 50 in an evening)

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Yes, this. Or allow us to mail our alts.

New game + is a single player game, this is an MMO. Where is the single player game?

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Originally Posted by Chiramu

New game + is a single player game, this is an MMO. Where is the single player game?

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Wow. Really? :\

I love how, in your eyes, the only people who say anything valid are the ones that agree with you. You are making an alt, knowing that you'll have to go through the story again, and then complaining because you have to do it. In the end, it's your choice, so stop whining.

And I did say what was wrong, new game+ was only ever meant to make you OP while going through everything again, not letting you skip what you don't want to do. Would be nice if you would actually read an entire post before thinking "they don't agree with me, nothing they say makes sense"

And, to add to my last post, the bigger affect of what you want will completely change the way the gaming community thinks of new game+. Nothing just stays specific to one game. Someone will know that there is a game that let's you skip pretty much everything involved in going through a story, and then that will become a norm, because too many people will want, demand, and expect it. Nothing ever stays in one place, come on guy.

I'm actually confused about the concept of this. The main story quests are what lead you to the level appropriate questing areas. The quests, even if you don't care for the story, do give you that extra boost for leveling your first class.

The only way I'd see your option as truly viable viable would be to leave the quests in, but skip the storyline cutscenes.

Personally, I'd rather see an altered form of New Game + that would allow me to repeat all of the quests on a new class. I dislike the tedium of spamming dungeons and leves only go so far and are inefficient.

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Originally Posted by monochromicorn

I love how, in your eyes, the only people who say anything valid are the ones that agree with you. You are making an alt, knowing that you'll have to go through the story again, and then complaining because you have to do it. In the end, it's your choice, so stop whining.

And I did say what was wrong, new game+ was only ever meant to make you OP while going through everything again, not letting you skip what you don't want to do. Would be nice if you would actually read an entire post before thinking "they don't agree with me, nothing they say makes sense"

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When you say something valid, then I shall address it. In the meantime, you seem to be caught up in some strange semantics issue. As I said before, if New Game+ isn't an appropriate term then it can be changed. In the meantime, all this does is distract from the crux of what I am proposing. That's not constructive.

You also haven't answered a single one of my questions. From what I can gather, all you're freaking out about is that people might be skipping things they've already done before.

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Originally Posted by Violyre

I'm actually confused about the concept of this. The main story quests are what lead you to the level appropriate questing areas. The quests, even if you don't care for the story, do give you that extra boost for leveling your first class.

The only way I'd see your option as truly viable viable would be to leave the quests in, but skip the storyline cutscenes.

Personally, I'd rather see an altered form of New Game + that would allow me to repeat all of the quests on a new class. I dislike the tedium of spamming dungeons and leves only go so far and are inefficient.

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I am saying, that when you finish the main storyline, every subsequent character you create starts in the city of their choosing at level 1. From there, they can choose to pursue the story again at their leisure or do whatever else they please to level up. Everything that the story would normally unlock, would already be unlocked--eliminating the need to complete it on that character.

The story goes from being something you have to slog through on every new alt, to something you can do over again--if you feel like it.

This feature would not be mutually exclusive with a feature you are suggesting. I think your suggestion--having ability to replay the story at your leisure any time you want---is a fantastic one and do not believe that either suggestion has to be implemented over the other.

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Originally Posted by Verlyn

I am saying, that when you finish the main storyline, every subsequent character you create starts in the city of their choosing at level 1. From there, they can choose to pursue the story again at their leisure or do whatever else they please to level up. Everything that the story would normally unlock, would already be unlocked--eliminating the need to complete it on that character.

The story goes from being something you have to slog through on every new alt, to something you can do over again--if you feel like it.

This feature would not be mutually exclusive with a feature you are suggesting. I think your suggestion--having ability to replay the story at your leisure any time you want---is a fantastic one and do not believe that either suggestion has to be implemented over the other.

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Alright, that clears that up for me. Sorry for the confusion!

I'd love the ability to choose my own city. I don't like having to do it on two other characters just to see small tidbits of info regarding the other city-states. The completionist in me cries.

I'm guessing you'd start with the airship pass so you could train if you can just pick any city instead of the city/job combo!

So you basically want the option to skip the story for your alts? I don't mind to be frank.

As for your current predicament with robes looking weird on the new race ... You can always just level another Job now then fantasia to the new race.

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Originally Posted by Heskett

I believe it would contradict with the purpose of the Armory system they've implemented. They've built this game around with you needing to only ever have 1 character in mind.

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Desynth caps