Do new players miss out on certain things that vets got to experience?

[Squintina]

Answering the question directly:
Yes, you can experience all past dungeons and quests (seasonal quests may or may not reappear).

(as of 2.0. But no one should expect 1.0 stuff as it's basically considered a different game. That's why devs consider the game to be a year old even though 1.0 came out long before that).

Of course there will be changes. As with many MMOs, bugs are fixed, sceneries changed, nerfs happened, certain mobs may be moved, certain class/job skills might have been altered. But the general content itself is still available.

[Hyunckel]

I missed:

• Lightning Strikes event from February 2014, among all the cool gear I'm the most sad to miss is the Bohemian's Coat, unique coat to wear for non bard or magic classes... (Not counting the chest+head wizard cowled robes)
• Moonfire Faire event in August 2014, which included the Bomb Dance emote & awesome Yukatas >_>
• All Saints' Wake event in October 2014 (Ended November 3rd, I started playing on 16th of November, lucky me) Which included awesome classic halloween witch's garments

Let's hope Lightning Strikes come back this year as well. I want my damn coat.

[Nestama]

But there's no reason for Lightning to return, though... lore-wise, anyway. First two times made sense because of the release of the game. Third time was for the anniversary, but that was pushing it.

Anyway, one thing new players will never get to experience (unless they group up with three other new players) is the "first time" experience for level 50 dungeons. If they just queue up in Duty Finder, there's a very high chance they'll be forced to speed run and miss out on admiring landscapes, etc.

[Riviere]

But there's no reason for Lightning to return, though... lore-wise, anyway. First two times made sense because of the release of the game. Third time was for the anniversary, but that was pushing it.

They might bring it back one more time whenever Lightning Returns releases on PC.

[DeadRiser]

You won't be able to witness the road blocks because of the overgearing.

I remember how difficult Pharos Sirius, Amdapor Keep, and Titan were because of ilvl.

[Krr]

don't worry about random special events. lightning hair and coat, special cash shop package, $15

includes BONUS: Lighting Dakimakura minion with special /hug animation

[Gramul]

The only thing you missed was 1.0. For better and worse.

And those crossover/seasonal events I guess. But that's true for many MMO.

[Atomnium]

Do new players miss out on certain things that vets got to experience?

It's mostly all about nerfs :

1.X experience.

The original Demon Wall fight in Amdapor Keep.

Speed runs of Amdapor Keep before they added barriers and doors.

Using thunder I in your rotation as SMN.

Pharos Sirius before its whole nerf.

Learning to handle allagan rot in turn 2.

Turn 5 field looking like a normal hand before its revamp.

Ramuh Extreme being tankable by Titan-Egi.

Whole second coil of bahamut (but Nael) before its incredible holy-hammer nerf.

Original Atma drop rate xD.

Most of the events items before they ended into cash shop.

Mor Dhona evolutions.

[Teslo]

Yeah, like others have said, some area evolutions (Mordy) and seasonal events. I'm pretty sure some of the "Special" events (Lightning, Shantotto, Dragon Quest) will return at some point. Probably for anniversaries. Otherwise you've missed some difficult things that eventually got nerfed.

I'm mostly curious how the expansion will affect older content. Obviously new players will play through the initial storyline, but will they have to progress through ALL of 2.x storyline, or just the 2.0 - 2.1 portion? I'm really hoping they find a way to keep older content (At the very least the last run of endgame content in 2.5) relevant. I absolutely hated how all of the endgame content in WoW became worse than obsolete as soon as an expansion hit. Or will we see a major end-of-story event like the Fall of Dalamud, signalling the end of 2.x and moving in to 3.0? I have to admit, that'd be pretty freakin' epic to end each iteration of the game in a similar fashion before the next expansion. Either way, I'm about 98% certain that you'll always be able to go back and experience the older content whenever you feel it's convenient.

I do wish that I'd played 1.0... Even though the game was, let's face it, bad at almost every level (I did play the Beta, and I just couldn't get in to it. Plus I was still a FFXI loyalist and the new game just didn't grab me!), I still wish I'd been there to see the storyline, see the areas before they changed, etc etc etc. I find myself eagerly awaiting private servers running the old version so I can experience it, bad as it was. :P I actually REALLY wish SE would put up "Nostalgia Servers" that run 1.x so that newer players can go back and see all that. I realize Yoshi and the rest of the team want to sweep all that under the carpet, but I think it would be really awesome of them to do this. Hell, I'd even pay an extra buck or two a month for access to it. Or a one-time entrance fee.

[Sapphic]

Well finished levelling my SCH alt just before 2.4 arrived and was able to catch up on all content pretty quickly. Zodiac quest helped as made it easier to get people to re-run stuff like all the ex primals when theres a bonus 100 soldiery involved XD