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

So this is just a question on peoples opinion not exactly another storm blood thread at least not intending it to be. So in my experience I started playing the game this summer sometime I loved it, still do love it. Of course I have my issues with it, but I still love the game and its my number one game now. So when playing Arr content the only thing I felt gated from was chocobo mount after that , it was open to pretty much do whatever I wanted other than access to hw it was free game. So I did the msq when I wanted to did my job quest, leveled jobs past 50 before I even finished the arr msq, I could visit any place in arr that I chose. I loved this it gave me the sense that I was in control of how I played the game it allowed me to drag out the story exactly how I wanted at the pace I wanted.


Fast forward now I'm a trade craft mentor and working on hw content. Here I thought that hw just had the jobs locked behind it , boy was I wrong everything is locked in hw and gated behind msq and even the optional dungeons are gated, my job quest are gated every single thing is gated behind msq. To me thats just not right because what it is doing is making players play the game like its an rpg instead of just a big sandbox game that you can get to things whenever you want to. I have to say this really upsets me when I finally realized how gated hw was when I tried to do my level 56 pali mission I cant until I catch up in story.

So heres my question I know most people dont like dragging things out like I do , but which did people prefer the most did you like the way arr was set up to where you could go to pretty much anywhere you wanted, no area was off limits are gated. Or do you like the hw path of everything being tied to doing the msq, as I have found on the forums their will be mixed reviews. But I honestly don't see the value in things being gated if your of the right level to do certain thing. Because once you do the story they force you to do all thats left is gearing your jobs, or raiding so for those who chose not to do that then what do they have left to do? Which of the paths would you rather see in storm blood the more straight forward path of content locked hw , or the more open options paths of how arr is set up?

It plays like an RPG rather than a Sandbox because it IS an RPG, not a Sandbox. I didn't find either the base game or HW to be more or less restrictive than the other.

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Originally Posted by Aramina

It plays like an RPG rather than a Sandbox because it IS an RPG, not a Sandbox. I didn't find either the base game or HW to be more or less restrictive than the other.

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Id have to disagree with that, in arr you could level simply by unlocking The Sunken Temple of Qarn, Cutter's Cry, Dzemael Darkhold, The Aurum Vale, all of these could be done without being caught up in the msq. Also your job quest for all jobs could be done without msq. You can go to any area you want, without needing a flying current, you can get tomes gear if you are the right level , instead of having to be at the end of the game as you have to be in hw. Hw is 100 percent gated every step of the way Arr wasnt like that and you have alot more freedom outside of the path of doing msq.

Gated content helped keep the rmt from flooding the heavensward areas.

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Originally Posted by bswpayton

Id have to disagree with that, in arr you could level simply by unlocking The Sunken Temple of Qarn, Cutter's Cry, Dzemael Darkhold, The Aurum Vale, all of these could be done without being caught up in the msq. Also your job quest for all jobs could be done without msq. You can go to any area you want, without needing a flying current, you can get tomes gear if you are the right level , instead of having to be at the end of the game as you have to be in hw. Hw is 100 percent gated every step of the way Arr wasnt like that and you have alot more freedom outside of the path of doing msq.

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Disagree all you like, but my opinion stands as it is. :)

Eh? I wouldn't call ARR free roam at all. Back when it was actually 2.0, when everyone was at level gear or under with hardly any experience buffs, you might have actually been hard pressed to meet the level requirements for content gated behind MSQ in ARR. It's just nowdays, people have FCs with tons of credits and buffs going 24/7. HW also cut out a lot of the annoying fetch quests that heavily plagued the ARR storyline. A majority of dungeons, unlocking job skills, even getting additional classes, primals, etc., were still all locked behind MSQ in ARR. You just have so many boosts going on now that you can easily out level MSQ just doing the MSQ itself that hardly anyone remembers this stuff.

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Originally Posted by Aramina

Disagree all you like, but my opinion stands as it is. :)

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Not giving players options is never good in my opinion , simply because when I actually did the msq for arr it took me less than three days, so the hw story line could literally be done in like less than a week with the other thing on the otherside of that content being, waiting on the devs to make new content every three months. Trying to raid, spamming the same two dungeons over and over again, and farming for gear there is nothing on the other side that would actually make things worth rushing the story so whats the point in gating it?

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Originally Posted by bswpayton

so whats the point in gating it?

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Except it has always been gated. There's just more distractions in ARR for you to forget it's gated in the first place.

I was fine with how HW was. In truth only 2 zones were truly gated and they made a lot of sense. As much as I love crafting and gathering, the game wasn't designed for those two aspects to be done in a vacuum. The MSQ is the main structure of the game. The gating is an intentional design feature to facilitate that structure.

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Originally Posted by JunseiKei

Except it has always been gated. There's just more distractions in ARR for you to forget it's gated in the first place.

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Anyone coming to the game will notice the difference, in Arr now you can be level 50 and still be on the level 25 quest in msq, but still have access to a ton of content like all the dungeons i mention 4 dungeons, that arent tied to the msq. And you can travel to any area you see fit thats in arr you cant do this in hw, also your job quest wernt locked behind what areas you where in within the msq, like it is in msq so I dont see the similarities here, with how easy it is to level now I see no reason for the things to be gated like they are now in hw.

That is because it is old content. It was not everything open all the time when 50 was the level cap.

ARR was equally gated as HW. I found they changed a lot of things in Heavensward (for the worse), but gating content behind MSQ and/or time isn't one of the things they changed.

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Originally Posted by bswpayton

Anyone coming to the game will notice the difference, in Arr now you can be level 50 and still be on the level 25 quest in msq, but still have access to a ton of content like all the dungeons i mention 4 dungeons, that arent tied to the msq. And you can travel to any area you see fit thats in arr you cant do this in hw, also your job quest wernt locked behind what areas you where in within the msq, like it is in msq so I dont see the similarities here, with how easy it is to level now I see no reason for the things to be gated like they are now in hw.

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It's possible they removed restrictions as time passed.

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Originally Posted by Aramina

That is because it is old content. It was not everything open all the time when 50 was the level cap.

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But the question was , tho would you rather a system like hw where you have to have walls to dungeons walls to job quest, walls to different areas are would you prefer to do the msq when you wanted to. Simply because of the flying currents you are locked period with hw, even when hw becomes old you will still be locked as opposed to how arr is set up. You guys mention item level locks and stuff regardless of ilvl you could still go to an area you wanted even if the adds their would one shot you instantly. Im not 100 percent agaisnt gating but why lock job quest, why lock optional dungeons, why lock areas in the game. I dont know how it was before but now how it is nothing is locked in arr like it is locked in hw just because of the flying currents. And I dont see how that would change if someone was trying to go arr , to hw at any pace they chose they would be forced to immediately do hw to make any progress. I dont see how thats a good system, Ive seen time and time again where people are upset about how jobs where locked in hw, giving people options gives them a choice in the path they want to play the game.

Being able to access some content without having done MSQ doesn't suddenly make it free roam. Four dungeons out of eleven others that need the story quest? All of the primals, sans Odin, are locked behind ARR MSQ. Like I said, even switching to another class requires at least some MSQ done and you can't travel all the land without airships- also gated behind ARR MSQ. Granted, it's early in the story, but the gate is still there.

I'm not sure why anyone would want to skip MSQ as it is, considering it offers some of the most efficient experience there is to gain.

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Originally Posted by Kaurie

ARR was equally gated as HW. I found they changed a lot of things in Heavensward (for the worse), but gating content behind MSQ and/or time isn't one of the things they changed.

It's possible they removed restrictions as time passed.

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The only gates I can recall them lifting were:
- completing Titan EX to gain access to Ifrit EX;
- completing Moogle EX to access Levi EX;
- completing Levi EX to access Ramuh EX.
I honestly think those were the only gates they removed. Pretty sure none of the story gated stuff was actually removed.

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Originally Posted by bswpayton

But the question was , tho would you rather a system like hw where you have to have walls to dungeons walls to job quest, walls to different areas are would you prefer to do the msq when you wanted to.

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I'd honestly keep said walls and gates because in story, pacing is everything. A lot of the jobs in HW are linked to direct conflicts going on with the main story. After having concluded the Dragonsong War while still leveling alternate classes, you can see where events tie in directly. Events or key information that I now know as false but were heavily implied at the time the job quest was to be done, if it was your main, would keep to the story. This is pacing. Even in FFXIV is an MMO, it is still a Final Fantasy game which has always been about the story.

only trivial things in ARR were open, everything that matters was locked behind Titan Hard Mode.

the difference is so minor, i don't really care.

both have their pros and cons. you can't have surprises in the story like Churning Mists and Azys Lla if everyone can free roam to every zone.

i think a calculated mix is fine. i am against dungeons that are not in the MSQ.

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Originally Posted by JunseiKei

The only gates I can recall them lifting were:
- completing Titan EX to gain access to Ifrit EX;
- completing Moogle EX to access Levi EX;
- completing Levi EX to access Ramuh EX.
I honestly think those were the only gates they removed. Pretty sure none of the story gated stuff was actually removed.

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A great many dungeons were gated behind the MSQ, the roulettes were gated behind accessing these dungeons. It's the exact same as it is in Heavensward.

(google this cuz lazy) here is a list of the first bit:
Lvl15 Sastasha (story dungeon for quest "It's Probably Pirates.")
Lvl16 Tam-Tara Deepcroft (story quest "Fire in the Gloom.")
Lvl17 Copperbell Mines (story quest "Into a Copper Hell" )
Lvl20 Halatali (OPTIONAL)
Lvl24 The Thousand Maws of Toto-Rak(Story "Into the Beast's Maw")
Lvl28 Haukke Manor (Story "Skeletons in Her Closet,")
Lvl32 Braflox Longstop (Story "The Things We Do for Cheese.")
Lvl35 Sunken Temple of Qarn(OPTIONAL)
Lvl38 Cutter's Cry(OPTIONAL)
Lvl41 Stone Virgil (Story "In Pursuit of the Past")
Lvl44 Dzemael Darkhold (Optional but needed for some Grand Companies)
Lvl47 Aurum Vale (Optional but needed for some Grand Companies)
Lvl50 Castrum Meridianum (story)
Lvl50 Praetorium (story)

Then there were post 50 dungeons that were story as well, Keeper of the Lake comes to mind. I can't recall if there was 1 per patch that was story driven (but I think that was the case?)

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Originally Posted by bswpayton

Stuff.....

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We can't really say how (or if) it will be locked once Stormblood releases. It is possible (and quite likely to some extent) that changes will be made to speed the passage of HW just as changes were made to speed the passage of ARR once Heavensward was released. The thing people are trying to make clear is things were just as locked in ARR whether it was by a direct MSQ lock or not. That has not changed. You came into the game late and benefitted(?) from that fact. That said, no I would not like the game to be a free-for-all. I, personally, despise free-range games.

This thing again?
Yeah, I'd prefer the ARR approach. Why? I used to be a crafter/gatherer main because IMHO they are the things this game does better than other MMO's. Until 50 it was awesome to craft my battle classes HQ gear from the mats I collected. My DoH/DoL classes were always ahead of my DoW/DoM classes. Then I moved on to HW and HW moved to kick me in the mouth so hard I'm still pooping teeth. The MSQ gating made my preferred playstyle impossible and thus made me hate the story and the pompous pointy-ears it focused on.

Still salty, grrrr.

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Originally Posted by Kaurie

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.__. I know. To me, saying four dungeons not being locked behind MSQ is - well look at everything else that is. Plus all the primals, sans Odin, were all locked behind MSQ, which vicariously meant, so were all the raids (as Coil required Garuda, Ifrit and Titan killed).

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Originally Posted by JunseiKei

Being able to access some content without having done MSQ doesn't suddenly make it free roam. Four dungeons out of eleven others that need the story quest? All of the primals, sans Odin, are locked behind ARR MSQ. Like I said, even switching to another class requires at least some MSQ done and you can't travel all the land without airships- also gated behind ARR MSQ. Granted, it's early in the story, but the gate is still there.

I'm not sure why anyone would want to skip MSQ as it is, considering it offers some of the most efficient experience there is to gain.

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I never said to skip the msq, Im simply talking about playing from ahead with having msq quest to do later on , I personally would rather get the things that prob wouldn't interest me on its on out of the way. Capping scripts and tomes must be boring because all I hear are people complaining about the end game. I like to always have msq remaining because it is my favorite part of the game, so the other parts arent, getting my gear to max level if that is the only thing I have to do and my story is gone is gona be boring. I have always played games being 10 to 20 levels ahead of where I am in the story ,from ahead and so do others from what Ive seen but how hw is set up it makes that option pointless, because you have no access you have no access to fates of the level you maybe on, you have no access to job skills because its locked I have a level 60 now and unless I bomb rush the story I will have no access to 230 or higher gear even tho I do hunts and things of that nature. So what Im saying is by forcing people to complete the story if thats something that they love about the game then whats to keep them there once they have finished it if the other things dont interest them. So why would it be a good idea to use the same formula for the next expansion , there isnt enough story they could create that would even last a month so why lock it if you want people to play the game longer than that amount of time. And as far as item lvl requirements I could go on mb right now and buy 250 gear or get someone to make it for me , item level will never be a factor anymore so even with an expansion if someone can craft and put it on marketboard people could have the right gear and still be locked from content, note I never said dont lock story dungeons but if we are talking optional stuff that you have the option to do or not to do there is no reason to tie it in with msq.

This is a false comparison. ARR is the base game, you had free roam (as in you could walk/ride anywhere) as long as you could survive that area, because that was the game. Content such as dungeons was gated behind story and level requirements, as is normal. With Heavensward, it's an expansion to the base game, and you have to progress to Ishgard before you can travel anywhere else.

You *DO* actually have free roam in most Heavensward zones as long as you have been able to travel to Ishgard. Your travel otherwise is gated only by how brave you are at lvl 50 to roam higher level areas. But once again certain content such as dungeons and trials is story/level gated, as per normal for an RPG.

If you are referring to the gating of HW content by Steps of faith, that is a completely different question.

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Originally Posted by JunseiKei

.__. I know. To me, saying four dungeons not being locked behind MSQ is - well look at everything else that is. Plus all the primals, sans Odin, were all locked behind MSQ, which vicariously meant, so were all the raids (as Coil required Garuda, Ifrit and Titan killed).

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I'm sorry, I misread your post. I thought you said

"The only gates I can recall them having were:"

not

"The only gates I can recall them lifting were:"

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Originally Posted by Kosmos992k

You *DO* actually have free roam as long as you have been able to travel to Ishgard. Your travel otherwise is gated only by how brave you are at lvl 50 to roam higher level areas..

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Nope, the MSQ unlocks areas. You can't, for example, just run to Idyllshire after getting access to Ishgard.

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Originally Posted by Squigley

Nope, the MSQ unlocks areas. You can't, for example, just run to Idyllshire after getting access to Ishgard.

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I understand that, but once you unlock a zone, you can go anywhere in that zone you can reach on foot (until you can fly of course. I'm sorry, I was being less than precise in my reply. However, the OPs question is very ambiguous to me, free roam implyes being able to ramble all over the zones in the game. As far as I can see once you are in a HW zone, you can walk anywhere accessible on foot, as long as you can survive. Obvious exceptions being the ones you mention as they are gated behind story. In The Dravinian Forelands, you can get there pretty easily, but heaven help you if you're level 50-52 and try to walk along to the Gnath area or through Mourn. It's actually kind of fun sneaking around those areas when you're well below the level of the locals... :)

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Originally Posted by Squigley

Nope, the MSQ unlocks areas. You can't, for example, just run to Idyllshire after getting access to Ishgard.

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^ This. Out of sheer curiosity, and because I hadn't tried to before, brought my ALT who is on the level 52 MSQ, toward the Hinterlands. Oh my, the gate is closed, despite me totally being able to get there on foot, ideally.

Kosmos992k accidently posted this to junseikei
This is what Im sayin which you just agreed with for instance free roam, so if your above level which is so easy to do with fates , guilds, duty roulette, and potd, you would easily be above level. In hw you cant get to dravinian forelands without the story. In arr you can go to any area thats in arr without story that opens fates, and optional dungeons. And with the level 50 portion of arr, you unlock like over half of the optional dungeons as soon as you open that part of the story. What Im saying is what if your level 65 in storm blood and want to do some of the optional dungeons that they put in place should you be forced to do the msq just to do a dungeon thats optional are should be you be able to do it whenever you get ready . The first optional dungeon in hw is gated dusk vigil , most people entering hw are already above level 50 so why is it gated behind msq , and like squigley said they wanted to just craft and gather its tons of players like this in the game why should areas be locked off from them if their gatherer is level 60 but maybe their battle class isnt if this is something they enjoy in the game. What Im saying is no area in arr was blocked from you , nor where any job quest, you could do all your job quest up to level 50 even if you are only level 30 in msq, hw gates this type of play and for no reason.

I get what you're saying - you want to traverse the game without having context. Something ARR allows. The thing is ARR is mostly the same as it was in 1.0. Heavensward is completely new, with reasons you travel there and travel itself being new things for the "masses" story-wise. You're also an unwelcomed outsider, something still linked to the story. I get enjoying the story at your own pace, the game still has to obey what is acceptable lore-wise, which loops back to a post I made:

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Originally Posted by JunseiKei

because in story, pacing is everything. A lot of the jobs in HW are linked to direct conflicts going on with the main story. After having concluded the Dragonsong War while still leveling alternate classes, you can see where events tie in directly. Events or key information that I now know as false but were heavily implied at the time the job quest was to be done, if it was your main, would keep to the story. This is pacing. Even in FFXIV is an MMO, it is still a Final Fantasy game which has always been about the story.

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Everything you do in 3.0 is relevant to the story. Even so much as your job quests are heavily linked to the story, battle, crafter and gatherer alike. To skip ahead before you're meant to is akin to reading the ending/ solution to a conflict before you know what the conflict even is. It's all about pacing. While 4.0 might not see as much locking for traversing areas for some places, and you might not need flying to get around like you do in Heavensward, I'm sure there is still going to be a lot of MSQ gating. Lore-wise, it won't make sense how you're going to get around Imperial owned lands easily without having something from the story to it, so I doubt it.

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Originally Posted by bswpayton

hw gates this type of play and for no reason.

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Originally Posted by JunseiKei

I'd honestly keep said walls and gates because in story, pacing is everything. A lot of the jobs in HW are linked to direct conflicts going on with the main story. After having concluded the Dragonsong War while still leveling alternate classes, you can see where events tie in directly. Events or key information that I now know as false but were heavily implied at the time the job quest was to be done, if it was your main, would keep to the story. This is pacing. Even in FFXIV is an MMO, it is still a Final Fantasy game which has always been about the story.

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You can disagree with the reason all you like, but what JunseiKei said *IS* the reason, so you can't say there is no reason. No reason you agree with? Perhaps. But that is not the same thing.

edit: I should have just let you speak for yourself instead of posting a quote from you earlier in the thread. :)

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Originally Posted by JunseiKei

Being able to access some content without having done MSQ doesn't suddenly make it free roam. Four dungeons out of eleven others that .[/I]

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But the thing is who is begging for more gates whos asking for their job quest to also be story locked , whos asking the devs to lock the jobs behind patches, I havent read a single thread on this. What I do hear being a mentor in the novice is new players wanting to play drk, astro , mch, and up until level 50 there was nothing I saw from those quest that made me feel like they had to be gated. Like I said by you forcing people to do the story to do everything then It could backfire and make them not interested in the game, like someone mention with crafters and the likes they just wana craft and maybe do the story later when they feel like it. I understand locking trails, and dungeons viva story. But jobs, job quest, and optional dungeons make zero sense at all because all it does is shorten a persons play time. Like I said gear max and collecting tomes isnt fun Ive heard noone say that is was from what Ive been reading. But I have heard many people defend the story do they play like I do probably not, but at the same time having that option imo would allow people to do these things without it being at the end of the game and still have something that they enjoy to look forward to. I dont want to be on the path of waiting every 3 months for more story when I can just do the story at my own pace and do the things that aren that exciting like farming gear in between the story that I love. Same goes for crafters and gatherers they love gathering so let people go get their stuff and once they finish then they will have even more pt by going back and doing the story later. Lore sometimes gets in the way of making the game last longer than it can this game is three years old so because of the locks it forces people to play in a way that that their is only one path and one path only, many new players always hate even leaving novice network and liked the community sense that the chat brought to the game, I believe if things wernt gated the way they were then alot more people would take more time to do things thus stretching out their subs , because they arent in a rush to do everything just to unlock stuff.

How about free roam starts with after beating heavensward because now you have all the scions. If you finish ARR, then go to storm blood you're gonna be like "wth? I thought they were all gone?"

See the thing is not all gated content is a bad idea and it dose bring some pros along for example my sister didn't unlock the Cutters Cry dungeon so around LV35 it took her a while to do and she is at LV47 doing fates because to her, a new player she doesn't know of the LV47 Aurum Vale dungeon.

But If those Dungeons was gated and AV was part of the story line then doing her MSQ she would know of AV and thus know of a LV47 dungeon she can do for exp instead of fate grinding.


But hell I don't see the point of going to Idlyshire If I'm LV54 since the main point of the area is for LV60 characters.

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Originally Posted by bswpayton

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Specifically, those are gated behind the expansion. You simply don't get access to them unless you buy Heavensward, anymore than you can't play as an Au Ra unless you buy it or even level past 50 in anything. It's designed to sell. *Points to previous posts.* Pacing and relevant story found without classes and jobs. Like you, I love the story, but everything in Heavensward is too tied to story and simply allowing to skip around it without context removes the story and its relevance.

What you're asking for is asking for mechanics of the game to be made available without being tied to story. IE: Tomestones, job skills themselves, etc. having no ties to the story being made available. Even then, crafting and gatherers would still be behind story. Lore-wise, we're adventurers that are encouraged to take on other professions, like crafting. By default, we're being told we're battlers first, entrepreneurs second. Players may think differently, but story-wise, that is what we are.

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Originally Posted by JunseiKei

Being able to access some content

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The point would be for matts to go and farm is your a gatherer, and I hadthree level 60s before I even got to hw , like I said many players in nn are beyond level 50 just simply gettin there tomes gear, when you dont gate content it doesnt make people feel like they have to do the story asap to get to something they may want to do, because like I mention once the story is gone your options are , wait for the devs to bring out more content, raid which no t even half of the player base does, or do the same dungeons over and over again. It would be different if you just unlocked this unbelievable amount of content on the other side but you dont.

You just unlock a cycle of repetitiveness, instead of just doing this same repetitive cycle in between the msq if you wanted to, like I said once the story is over if people arent into those things that is at the end of the game then it will shorten their play time. If their is no pressure to be at the end of the game, and you have the option to take your time then you will end up playing more, I stretched arr out to 4 months in a half where as with hw with everything gated , Ill be done with it in half the time and if I dont get into raiding, I will have nothing left to do other than the stuff I had to rush over again, instead of doing it in the midst of playing taking longer to do it cause I wouldn't feel like I had to do it in a certain amount of time.

I meant this for someone else but it ended up linkin to your post but its still relevent to my post.
To your point well in storm blood dont tie job quest to the story, dont tie optional dungeons to the story, dont tie new jobs to the expansion. I didnt say let everyone who is the right level do the all the extreme primals that are tied into the story. Dont block off noods for gatherers into areas they cant reach why what for there is no reason. Keep the msq gated thats fine im 100 percent for that but let me ride my horse where I want and let people that wana hit rocks hit them where ever they are in story. Arr didnt explain how when Im in arr how I was no where near mor dona in story but I was still there and riding around in the imperial base for job quest, they didnt have to because everything doesnt have to be tied to lore.

After having read several of the OP's topics, I'm beginning to think he/she likes to argue for the sake of arguing.

This topic has been beaten to death in other threads. Plenty of people complained before HW came out about the gated jobs, not being able to enter as a crafter, etc. Those players are still here btw. If you have a FC or LSs that are worth a darn, they will help you get to where you need.

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Originally Posted by AnaviAnael

After having read several of the OP's topics, I'm beginning to think he/she likes to argue for the sake of arguing.

This topic has been beaten to death in other threads. Plenty of people complained before HW came out about the gated jobs, not being able to enter as a crafter, etc. Those players are still here btw. If you have a FC or LSs that are worth a darn, they will help you get to where you need.

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Eh personally, I find the OP just likes to raise questions and have discussion. I actually like their threads, because they're game relevant. There are quite a lot of fluff threads on the GD, it's nice to have thought provoking discussion.

My only two issues are that it seems they are ESL, and I find reading their posts difficult at times. I also find (s)he raises a lot of leading questions. These leading questions are particularly annoying, as it appears at first glance that they want a good discussion, but then it's revealed that if you give an answer other than they were expecting, then you're wrong or a bad person.

[/QUOTE]And no I dont like arguing at all, I post things from other discussions I read in threads are stuff that I hear in the game. Like when I posted about prisms I had no idea all the please dont change this system I would get back because I have never heard anyone saying how much they loved prisms anywhere on my server. The same with this I didn't really think lore was that important for it to prevent others that like a certain play style from playing the way that they want.

I love discussion and Im not here to beat anyone up just wanting to get some understanding of the benefits of certain features in the game Kaurie you yourself I just saw that you were thinking about leaving the game , because it has issues that some people dont like. Gated content is something I have read or heard over and over again that isnt a feature that people care for when it comes to pretty much everything in the game. All I am trying to say is I dont want to be forced to rush through the story that I very much enjoy to join everyone else in the waiting process when I havent been playing the game as long as everyone else what is wrong with wanting the game to last as long as I can possibly stretch it out playing a certain type of way. Because time and time again everyone complains about the tome grind so what is the point in waiting to do that after story when you can do it in the middle of the story is all Im saying.

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Junseikei I pointed out why it's locked behind MSQ. In Heavensward, you're an unwelcomed foreigner and they aren't afraid of showing you that time and again in the story. Just the opening scene has Elezen children from the Brume glaring you down.

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I dono if this will work properly but I tried but Ive been saying this the whole time I love the lore and story of this game it is my favorite part, what I dont love is to be forced to do it to do other things I like there are 8 dungeons that are optional in hw. I already have a level 60 character in arr I could simply just go do those dungeons , like I did with aurum vale etc. In hw because of the gate of just getting out of falcons nest I can not I have to do the story.
To do my paladin quest 56 I have to do the story, in arr I had the option to do this without having to be concerned of where I was in the story and I was asking if people like this compared to how things where in arr where none of that mattered if you had the gear and you had the level you could do all optional content and pace yourself in the story how you wanted. This includes gathering and crafting, I was simply saying make everything accessible in storm blood that is optional without tying it in with the story. Because I save story Im going to level up regardless of what Im doing Im gona get gear regardless of what Im doing but once I run out of story then I am forced to wait til the next patch. Im not good with cliff hangers Id rather let things run right into each other. This is my reason and for others that play similar they have their reasons as well.

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Originally Posted by bswpayton

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I pointed out why it's locked behind MSQ. In Heavensward, you're an unwelcomed foreigner and they aren't afraid of showing you that time and again in the story. Just the opening scene has Elezen children from the Brume glaring you down. Of course they aren't going to let you run willy nilly. Most of the stuff you're talking about is only gated behind 3.0 - something released 17 months ago and takes a week, at most, to do, leaving the rest of the Heavensward story as well as story leading up to Stormblood. Maybe if all of the crafting, gathering, jobs skills, were gated behind other patches, too, but they aren't. It took a moment for that to sink in to me, too. Having that stuff gated behind mostly just 3.0 content, not even 3.01 or newer, really isn't that bad nor that much.

Still again, you're wanting to sacrifice pacing of the story and how it all fits together, destroying relevance to the story itself. Lore has played a bigger and bigger part. I mean, did you not know how fast Encyclopaedia Eorzea sold!? No, seriously, do you not know how fast that sold out? I think that alone should be a testament to how much a lot of FFXIV players play this game for lore itself.

You are also not being "forced to rush" anything. That's an artificial pressure you are putting on yourself.

I literally started a month prior to HW release, and I have only the Warrior left to level to 60 - and I'm 57 there. I chose to play that way.

My brother and sister didn't. They aren't forced to do anything.

You're forcing yourself.

You are forced to do it tho , If I want my job skills for my appropriate level , if I want to see the optional dungeons then yes that would be called if you dont do the story then you cant do this extra content we put in the game that's extra. If i played the game like it is lined up then Id already have every class at level 60 but thats not gona keep me playing for 5 or 6 hours everyday. Taking things slow is what has given me the most pleasure, if you are a gatherer and want to get all your noods then yes you are forced to get to the last area you can so you can get those noods are go without. What I am simply saying is the game gives you a direct path and you cant stray away from it , instead of giving options.

Its not possible to create enough story content that is gona last even more than a months time. I level my jobs while I am still doing story , why go back after Ive finished the best part of the game to me. I have heard complaint after complaint about the gating in this game but people defend it and I dont really understand why. I havent read a single thread that says oh I love farming sripts and tomes for gear , but I do see people saying they love the story and Im one of those people, so why make it to where if I dont do the story right away then I cant do the optional content in the game.

Then take your time as a gatherer. The msq isn't designed for the Miner of Light. There is no lore based reason for you to be in Azys Lla if you don't know how to get there. Or that it even exists.