What other MMO has done this, and why does SE think it's a good idea?

[Fenral]

The quote I posted at the top of the opening post is coming from Yoshida himself, so I don't know where you've heard that, but if you did, he must've changed his mind.

He said it during the PAX East livestream. He gets confused on things like that a lot, though, so I imagine the more recent announcement could be based on what the dev team told him after he said otherwise.

He did also say something about being able to complete the current MS as one of the new Jobs, and I can't imagine that being outside his control as Producer and Director.

[QuinceTaru]

My thinking with this is something is going to happen in 2.55 that will move the mor dhona npcs to ishgard, if a player who hasnt done MSQ goes to ishard and sees them and then also sees them in mor dhona it would be wierd, or something like that

[Natashio]

But you still needed the expansions to get access to the areas, and yes there is precedence that they have done this:
First, Rank 1-5 was the original Main storyline for FFXI and had to be completed to get access to the Zilart Missions which you mentioned. Though this didn't give you access to all areas in the expansion till you completed up to a certain Zilart Mission. Also, Rank 6-10 missions of the Main story line were added later after The Zilart expansion pack was release as a patch that also included the final Zilart mission.

[Priya]

It's pretty typical. That area will be high level anyway, so you'll want to have something leveled for the zone. If you have something at level, you gain access, if not, you're probably going through the story while leveling anyway.

WoW has done the same thing. The only difference is that WoW has Trade chat to link up hubs and Warlocks/Mages to port you there, ignoring the questline locks.

[Kuroyasha]

Just beat the story.

[Magistrella]

Idk how long you actually played XI but....

Yes, you needed "only" to have Mission 5-2 completed, BUT: Before the Release of Rise of the Zilart the level cap actually was 50, and the whole story you got was up to 5-2. In RoZ rank 6-10 were slowly added as well as the level cap increased to 75 - mind tho, not in one update but in 5 level steps the same as later the 75-99 ones. Imagine XI without having artifact sets and stop before you even started the grind? ^^

So as you pointed out correctly - you HAD to do Rank 5-2, aka. the WHOLE Storyline to get access to the new storyline (and certain areas you couldnt just waltz into)

tl,dr version:

yes, another MMO has done this - and its published by the same company~

Greetz ('-')/

[Purrfectstorm]

I can see where it might seem overwhelming to do the entire 2.x storyline all at once but if you've been doing the storyline right along, it should be no problem. Also, the expansion isn't going to be released for 14+ more weeks so it seems like there is plenty of time to get caught up if you're not right now. Personally, and I really mean no offense, but it seems weird to me that anyone would be surprised that previous content is required to open up new content. It seems like this is a great incentive to do the things that SE puts into the game.

Now SE has said that certain things, beast tribe quests for example, won't be required for later content but I think we have to take this kind of thing with a grain of salt since a lot of content is bound to be connected in some way through the (hopefully) long lifetime of the game. In 2.51 SE released Triple Triad and one of the NPCs that you play requires completion of the Ixal quests in order to challenge him. However, arguably, Triple Triad is a peripheral activity like the beast tribe quests themselves. If you're like me, then you try to do all the content so if something like this happens, you are not disadvantaged in any way.

That brings me back to the Ishguard and Story Quest issue. Neither of these are peripheral activities. It makes sense that one follows the other. It's not like you have to get all 80 Triple Triad cards or complete all beast quests to access Ishguard. You have to complete something that is priority #1 for most players (or should be) in my view and anyway, takes like a week to get through (if you play a lot) or a few weeks (if you don't). I think this is manageable even as a new player. And if you're not a new player, you have an extraordinary amount of notice to prepare even if you are surprised by this rather unsurprising development. I say props to SE for giving players this kind of notice.

Anyway, even if a new player cannot start as a Dark Knight or one of the other jobs, this is not radically different than FFXI. You may not have had to complete a story arc but you did have to have a job at 30 and complete a sometimes long or difficult series of quests to unlock an advanced job.

Just beat the story.

Brevity is the soul of wit. I'm too long-winded sometimes LOL
Your post is what I should've written.

[TheUltimate3]

Personally my only real concern is are the Duties that must be completed.

How is someone late into the expansion going to get those old duties done when nobody is queuing up for them? Will the ARR Trial/Dungeons still be in the roulette that most players will be using?

[Zumi]

Personally my only real concern is are the Duties that must be completed.

How is someone late into the expansion going to get those old duties done when nobody is queuing up for them? Will the ARR Trial/Dungeons still be in the roulette that most players will be using?

Most likely all the old trails will still be in trial roulette and give whatever new tomes in heavensward just to allow new players working through the story to find a group.

[Belhi]

As someone who as just done the 2.x storyline in one go (new player) its not that much of a problem. It took me a while but that's because I take my time and savour the story. If I was incline to skip the text and cutscenes I doubt I couldn't get through it all in a full day.

Considering how much 2.0 was gated behind the Main Scenario it's hardly surprising that 3.0 will be too. Naturally to continue the Main Scenario in Heavensward your going to have to be up to date or it wouldn't make any sense.

The only issue I can see is the duty finder aspects of the Main Scenario. However I get the feeling that is already on the dev's radar since Yoshida has talked about it. He even mentioned ideas like having a group of NPCs from your Grand Company that you can build up to run those old duties. I'm pretty confident they will find a fix.