Can't Access 3.0 until you complete 2.0-2.55

[Seig345]

I don't have a link or anything, but I distinctly remember Yoshi-P answering a question involving being able to take our chocobo companions into dungeons with us, and he replied that while they had no plans to do that at the time, that he might consider it as a way to mitigate the issue of completing older content somewhere down the road.

Or, seeing as most content is rarely dynamic, it wouldn't be too hard for them to script NPCs for each role in a party and have them get added after a person or a group short 1-2 players has been waiting for a set amount of time, and only for content past a certain "age".

[Zohar_Lahar]

This is a general annoyance to me, but my biggest issue is:

The MSQ's from 2.1 to 2.55 don't offer any XP. So there is nothing the player is gaining until 3.0. Right now you're earning access to dungeons and new parts of the game. When 3.0 comes out most of that stuff will be old news and not worth it.

You need incremental item levels for the primals, Snowcloak, and most importantly the Keeper of the Lake. That's enough reason to do the level 50 dungeons and Crystal Tower, at least.

[Fenral]

LOTRO ran into a similar issue since they also required players to complete previous story arches before entering into new content...but they resolved that by simplifying some of the "group" content to accomodate smaller groups and/or the solo player. That may be a good option for SE to look at going into the future.

They've said before that they're looking into it. I wouldn't worry too much.

It's actually hilarious how the only people here "worried" about new players having to do the MS are players who have already done it, and not any of the actual new players. If I had to guess, what you guys really want is an easy skip to get your alts up to Alexander... Raiding is a privilege, not a right, and like all things in this game, it has to be earned. Sorry.

[Laerune]

Since this game is very story heavy, it makes alot of sense that new adventures can not enter Ishgard, untill they trigger the event that happens in the 2.55 questline. It sucks for newcomers, but they have the whole of the 2.0 content to enjoy, before they get to Ishgard.

[Chukkaque]

Im mostly happy about this because it means i'll be plaing with people who actually do MSQ and content for the game and didn't just grind to 50. I have a few IRL friends who always talk about XIV but areeither like lvl 10-40 or think theyre just going to grind EX Primals for gear when they haven't even finished the story quests.

Im just glad I won't be be walking through Ishgard and seeing level 20 people running around.

[Omegakiyohime]

stuff

Or they could just disagree with you and are genuinely worried about accessibility? Everyone involved in this argument has basically completed the MSQ so by the same way you find it funny that someone can be concerned about new players being gated, they can find it hilarious that you feel the need to block off content behind "story" to give yourself some imaginary status above new players. And yes, I used "story" in quotes, because SE has and will continue to make game play and story adjustments for the sake of accessibility. We all know SE is going to simply ignore that fact that there are going to be some greenleaf Au Ra running around after 3.0 launches. None of us are going to be affected by SEs decision, but let's not pretend that we are any better because we are on one side "lore rawr rawr" or the other "accessibility rawr rawr".


Do I think that new players should get to skip 2.1-2.5. Heavens no, the story is so tied into the plot of Heavensward that it wouldn't make a lick of sense. Do I think that some content shouldn't be gated behind it, it depends on the content. Heavensward is a 51-60 expansion pack to a story based game so anyone buying it should realize that they need to be caught up and at the appropriate level so I'm fine with dungeons and locations being locks. I'm a bit iffy when it comes to Jobs however.

[Snugglebutt]

-snip-

They will probably raise the level cap in each expansion so there is no problem with that aspect.

The MSQ contained with each expansion will merely be used to help level to the new cap within the expansions content alongside unlocking content contained within that expansion during that level range for example the expansion dungeons, trials or raids and teaching the players about the world they are playing in.

Currently Umbral Era MSQ helps get you from level 1 to 50 and unlocks most of the dungeons, game features and such along the way. Astral Era MSQ unlocks more dungeons, trials and such plus game features on top of giving some very good quest rewards aka the materia IV's which benefit the new players a lot financially from doing them.

The expansion MSQ will help level players from 50-60 alongside unlocking new dungeons, raids and such plus probably more decent financial rewards and helpful gear from quests while leveling to the new cap. In the expansion which follows this one they will probably raise the level cap again and once more the MSQ will help level from 60-70, unlock lots of new content plus reward players with gear, gil and knowledge about the world etc.

Rinse and repeat for each expansion. There is no real problem here and no need to really be concerned.

[Fenral]

snip

I do believe you made up an argument from me to respond to, instead of responding to anything I actually said.

The developers are doing what they can to live up to this game's dual nature as both an MMO and a numbered entry in the Final Fantasy series.

It's an MMO, so they can't simply let new players skip the character progression that defines the MMO genre. End-game is not the "start" of the game, but merely a countermeasure in place to prevent current players from unsubbing after they've completed leveling content. Most new players aren't in a rush to get to level cap and "start" the game, so they'll be in it for the 60 levels worth of story content before they even hit that point.

It's a Final Fantasy game, so story has to come first. They're doing the best they can to keep the MMO aspects of the game tied into the ongoing story, with features being unlocked at the rate they would be in any other Final Fantasy game. I'm not sure why that surprises anyone, honestly.

Eventually, they may pull a XIII-2 and simply drop a massive spoiler warning on the latest add-on scenario, but there's no need to start doing that with the first expansion.

[silentwindfr]

just saying, doing the Main Story Quest will become easier at later stage, why? because at some time, they will probably reduce the exp needed for level up. about the dungeon/trial, we will still have the duty it will not be really different of what we have soo far.... let's wait before say the new player will be screwed.

[Omegakiyohime]

I do believe you made up an argument from me to respond to, instead of responding to anything I actually said.

I was responding to the condescending snipe that you made that anyone actually "worried" about new players was just doing so to level their alts as quickly as possible and raid. I agree with most of the things that you've said to an extent, but accessibility of content has been a goal for this dev. team and I really took issue with that snipe so I responded to it.