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

[Snugglebutt]

I think that's a completely different thing? The way I understood it is you go in there solo with a squad of NPCs.

Not sure what you mean by completely different thing, the other person was talking about new players being left behind stuck on old low level content, the mercenary system is designed for the sole purpose of helping with low level content like dungeons along side the fact there is a lot of other elements which makes worrying about new players and old content less worry worthy.

It's possible that Ishgard access may be gated via "Before the Dawn" quest purely for people that have pre-ordered. This link is in the preorder section after all.

Once 3.0 hits, it may turn out that Before the Dawn is uncoupled from the whole ARR main story, so that fresh level 50s (or restiction barring access to Isgard are eased so lv30s seeking a new job) can gain access much easier.

I have no idea where you go that idea, it will be gated for all both prior and after launch of 3.0. There is no evidence it will be limited to anything related to pre-orders even in the links you provided. What we currently know is Ishgard is gained access through completion of the main quest, we know this quest will happen after completion of previous main story quest line related to Leviathan and Shiva which highly references Ishgard. We know the new jobs require being level 30+ in one of the current classes, we do not know where the new job quest lines will start but logically we do know it will start in a location that is safe for level 30 class characters to be.

I personally have not see evidence that Ishgard is just a safe bridge distance from Coerthas so I have no idea if that is the case or not but since we do know the quest itself required for unlocking the new zones is level 50+ then there would be no point putting a level 30 job starter NPC behind that locked content.

What makes more sense to me is you level your character or current class to 30, at that stage you can start the new jobs, that new job NPC quest line will need to start in a zone fitting for a level 30 character to be and we know you cannot gain access to the new expansion locations until after level 50 so logically that job NPC will be located outside of Ishgard. What will then probably happen is you will level that job from 30-50 going back and forth to that NPC to gain skills and more including continuing with MSQ as that job but after hit 50 and gained access to Ishgard that job NPC may tell you to go to Ishgard to finish your training where learn the skills between level 50-60. There may well be a guild relating to that job in Ishgard but it would be extremely unlikely you would start the job quest line there when we know the location will be gated behind being level 50+.

[Jim_Berry]

Story-driven.

I can say with Zilart, you need Rank 5. How do you get rank 5? Story missions. Don't finish story, then no Zilart or Dynamis.

Same with FFXIV. Don't do story, no progress in new areas.

[Callinon]

Not sure what you mean by completely different thing, the other person was talking about new players being left behind stuck on old low level content, the mercenary system is designed for the sole purpose of helping with low level content like dungeons along side the fact there is a lot of other elements which makes worrying about new players and old content less worry worthy.

Er, you sure about that? The only type of "mercenary" system I've heard SE talk about is one that helps players without FC airships get to the FC airship areas.

My major concern for gating expansion content behind story completion isn't necessarily how it affects Heavensward, but rather how it affects expansion #5 six or so years down the line.

Think about it this way:

FFXIV is a steady success and keeps releasing new content and new expansions as the years go on. Someone decides they want to pick the game up because a job in expansion 5 caught their eye. Now do they have to go through ALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL the story content between 2.0 and 6.5 just to get to where the job they actually want to play lives? That's not entirely reasonable.

Now it's possible that job unlocks and things like that would be available in Realm Reborn zones, and that could be a way around this exact problem, but you still run into the problem of such a player needing probable years to catch up to where their friends are playing in the new stuff. Player turnover at that point would be a massive issue as new players can't replace old players quickly enough.

[Natsuno]

Not sure what you mean by completely different thing, the other person was talking about new players being left behind stuck on old low level content, the mercenary system is designed for the sole purpose of helping with low level content like dungeons along side the fact there is a lot of other elements which makes worrying about new players and old content less worry worthy.

The Grand Company system that was spoken of in a live letter (iirc), where you take a squad squad of GC members into a dungeon to level them up. The other that I know of is the ability to go in there at you current level (not level or ilvl synced). This has NOT been confirmed though, they only said they are not ruling it out.

I have no idea where you go that idea, it will be gated for all both prior and after launch of 3.0. There is no evidence it will be limited to anything related to pre-orders even in the links you provided.

In the link I gave it doesn't say anywhere that it would extend beyond 3.0 either. Is schrodinger's cat dead or alive? Has someone from SE expicitly said it would? Can you provide a link to that? Everyone else is busy jumping to their own conclusions and basing it as fact, getting their own ideas on what may or may not happen. There isn't alot of information to go on at this point in time.

I personally have not see evidence that Ishgard is just a safe bridge distance from Coerthas

http://www.finalfantasy.net/wp-conte...hgard-city.jpg

Is this not it?

Er, you sure about that? The only type of "mercenary" system I've heard SE talk about is one that helps players without FC airships get to the FC airship areas.

Ohhh... that merc system. Well that is completely different.

[QuinceTaru]

Must these threads always go in circles?

The thing i am looking for is where the said that the jobs will start in older cities like snugglebutt says, not what you are referring to in your quote of yourself. If they said the jobs will start in the main cities in the pax east event i mustve missed it!

Is it really in Ishgard or somewhere in Central Highlands? Because jobs don't have guilds.

http://i.imgur.com/PnTgBb5.png
This is what is assumed to be the machinist icon in ishgard, it may or may not be the guild you are correct but it is highly likely. You are correct in stating that jobs dont have guilds but these jobs will also be different than any we have so i guess we will have to wait and see.

[SpookyGhost]

http://i.imgur.com/PnTgBb5.png

Purely speculative since the quality is so blurry, but since that's where an airship is being built, that could be a wing icon.

[Snugglebutt]

-snip-

The jobs are not going to be gated behind access to Ishgard or expansion zones and of that I am sure, the only requirement SE have said is being over level 30. The expansion zones are gated behind being level 50 and the two statements from SE do not seem to be linked given their obvious different requirements. There are vast amount of zones with level ranges between 1-30 in the current world state which are suitible places to start those new jobs. Ishgard and the expansion zones is gated behind doing the level 50 quest, logically the new jobs will start outside of the expansion and the same will probably be true of all future ones.

You would level your character to 30 in the current zones like is currently the case where unlock dungeons, raids and trials plus airship and chocobo riding among other things like already which is gated behind the MSQ, then after level from 30 to 50 you gain access to the new zones within the expansion to continue leveling it up to the new level cap which will be 60. Each expansion will probably have an increase in the level cap. New players would not be gated from playing that new class behind visiting those locations in the new expansions and they will probably start outside of them.

It does not and would not take years to clear even 10 expansions worth of MSQ, the current amount can be done in a matter of days if wanted, so at worst it would be a week or couple weeks 10 expansions down the line. This is how SE have always done it with FF14 in terms of MSQ unlocking new features and content, there is nothing wrong with that. There is no evidence that either the current new jobs from the expansion or any future ones will be locked behind the level 50, 60 or future level caps and it is possible they will always be unlocked at level 30. As long as you buy the expansion and reach level 30+ you can unlock the new jobs, SE have said this. You only need to complete the level 50+ MSQ to unlock the expansion zones not the jobs.

New players will level from 1-30 like they have always done using a mix of main story and levels, dungeons, fates and such, unlock the new jobs and then continue leveling from 30-50 with MSQ, levels, fates and dungeons etc. Then at 50 will unlock Ishgard and level their new jobs or old ones from 50-60 using MSQ, leves, dungeons and such, with each expansion rinse and repeat to the new level caps. I fail to see how this is a bad thing, your still leveling from 1-50/60/70 cap the same way as before only at 30 you get a few new job options which can use for the rest of your leveling process.

The thing i am looking for is where the said that the jobs will start in older cities like snugglebutt says, not what you are referring to in your quote of yourself. If they said the jobs will start in the main cities in the pax east event i mustve missed it!

I never said new jobs will start in the current starter cities of Ul'dah, Limsa or Gridania. I said new "characters" will continue to start in the current starter cities because SE said they are not adding a new starter city within the expansion which in itself makes sense given the level of the expansion zones is 50+ so it would make no sense to have a level 1 new character start there especially since SE said you have to unlock the new jobs after hitting level 30+ of which you would find pretty hard to level from 1-30 in zones meant for level 50+. I said new jobs can start anywhere much like the current bard job starts in a tree trunk outside of any city and it is far more likely the new jobs will start in the current 1-30 zones in this game not the level 50+ ones from the expansion.

http://www.finalfantasy.net/wp-conte...hgard-city.jpg

Is this not it?

I see a bridge, I will concede that is evidence there is a maybe bridge connected to Ishgard...I do not see any evidence that bridge does not connect to another zone in between the current Coerthas and the bridge itself though which is why I said I see no evidence you can simply cross a bridge and end up in Ishgard from the current Coerthas zone. I think it is possible there may well be a new expansion zone in between the current Coerthas zone and that bridge.

[Fenral]

The thing i am looking for is where the said that the jobs will start in older cities like snugglebutt says, not what you are referring to in your quote of yourself. If they said the jobs will start in the main cities in the pax east event i mustve missed it!

The way I see it, not even Yoshida is careless enough to mention the new Jobs being playable without a storyline lockout if there's much of a chance of it being proven otherwise.

Never enough info. Ever.

[Noxifer]

Like others have said before, 2.55 story quests are level 50, and access to new jobs requires you to be level 30. It simply makes no sense to say "you have to be level 30 in a class to unlock this job... but wait, you need to be level 50 to even get to where that job npc is standing. But you still only need to be level 30 to unlock it."

(...Then again, on the other hand, they locked level 30 glamour prism recipes behind being level 50, too... Not just 'get one class to 50 to unlock glamour', but actually 'you have to be level 50 to read this book which contains level 30 recipes'. So... Meh. I guess it's possible, just... makes no sense.)

[Felis]

I personally have not see evidence that Ishgard is just a safe bridge distance from Coerthas so I have no idea if that is the case or not but since we do know the quest itself required for unlocking the new zones is level 50+ then there would be no point putting a level 30 job starter NPC behind that locked content.

I think that we get zoned to the other end of the bridge instead of walking the whole bridge. So yes, it is a safe bridge distance away from Central Highlands ^^
But I also believe that the job NPCs will be outside in Central Highlands, not in Ishgard

I see a bridge, I will concede that is evidence there is a maybe bridge connected to Ishgard...I do not see any evidence that bridge does not connect to another zone in between the current Coerthas and the bridge itself though which is why I said I see no evidence you can simply cross a bridge and end up in Ishgard from the current Coerthas zone. I think it is possible there may well be a new expansion zone in between the current Coerthas zone and that bridge.

The bridge begin behind the Gate of Judgement and I doubt they make a whole new zone with only the bridge in it ^^
It will be more like the bridge between La Noscea and Limsa Lominsa, where the players just skip the whole bridge by passing the zone line.